The Secret Circle: Season Two
by flower gettin' lady
Summary: Fanmade season 2 for TSC, as an attempt save the real show. Cassie gets ready for another hectic year with the Circle and a whole new set of problems as the other Balcoins settle down in Chance Harbor. Please read and review
1. Awakening

**This is the first chapter for the TSC Project, whose goal is to save the Secret Circle. Lately people have started giving up on trying to save the show or get it to another network, and we can't let that happen! We have to prove to the writers and interested networks that we truly love this show, and that we're in it for the long haul. Please, tweet about this project, put posts on tumblr about it, blog about it, or do anything else you want.**

**All the lovely people that have worked so hard to make this project happen:**

**Plotline writers – Forcystus5, xleamalfoyx, Coralinas, thefallenloveoflife, **

**Writers – Coralinas, Forcystus5, CharmedMilliE, ilove2dance, , luisa Mendoza, thefallenloveoflife, witch-witha-B**

**Editors – flower gettin' lady**

**Graphic Designers – xleamalfoyx, Charlene F.**

**Twitter Account – ImaGleekBaby, **

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**Tumblr Account – witch-witha-B,**

**link:** **http (colon) (forward slash) (forward slash) secretcircleproject (dot) tumblr (dot) ****com**** (forward slash)**

**If those don't work, the twitter account is TSC_Project and the tumblr account is The Secret Circle Project**

**Sorry I have to make the links look so confusing, but if I didn't they wouldn't show up. Please follow and subscribe to the two accounts, and help support us! **

**Disclaimer: We don't own The Secret Circle.**

Melissa was in her room. She had two different bathing suits in her hand and a suitcase on her bed next to her. There were clothes all over her floor and some in the suitcase. Right now she was deciding what bathing suit to bring with her to the weekend beach trip her dad was taking her and Faye on. Just then something soft and round hit her on top of the head.

"What?" Melissa said and turned around to see Faye standing by her door, a beach ball on the floor not too far away. "Very funny, Faye." Melissa smiled at her best friend. "Which one do you think?"

"The blue one." Faye told Melissa. Melissa looked at the blue one. She nodded her head and put the blue one in the suit case and the other one was carelessly discarded onto the floor. "Are you done packing already?"

Melissa's father had suggested going on this trip just yesterday, saying it would be a fun weekend away before school started again. She had called Faye last night and asked Faye to come. Faye was more than happy to get away for the weekend and Melissa had spent most of the morning trying to figure out what she was taking. They were leaving that night.

Yep," Faye answered, sitting on the couch. Melissa was shocked.

"How?" Melissa asked. Faye held up her hand and mumbled something Melissa couldn't hear under her breath. Suddenly clothes came out of her closet and drawers. They circled around for a bit before a few packed themselves in her suitcase. The ones that didn't get packed went back to where they were, the suitcase shutting and closing. Melissa smiled and laughed. "Where did you learn that?"

"My mom." Faye answered. "That spells packs the perfect outfits for your trip no matter where you're going. I don't know how, but it comes in handy." Faye laid back on Melissa's bed. "This weekend away is exactly what we need. The beach, sun, fun, boys..." The beach ball bounced off Faye's forehead. "What?"

"You have a boyfriend." Melissa stated.

"I didn't mean for me, I meant for you." Melissa didn't say anything, but turned around. "Unless… you don't want a boy because you already like someone?"

Melissa still refused to say anything.

"You do like someone, don't you?" Faye asked, but Melissa remained silent. "Who? Come on, you can tell me." When Melissa didn't say anything again Faye decided to change the subject "Okay, how about magic instead of boys? Ever swam with a dolphin in the open sea?"

Melissa looked at Faye and smiled. "That would be fun. Think we can do it?"

"We can do anything we want. Remember, solo magic again." Faye trilled, grinning. Melissa couldn't forget. Faye mentioned it almost every day this summer, but unlike Faye, Melissa hadn't minded being bonded to the others that much, although she was happy to be able to unlock a lock with another person again. "Best part of all; two whole days without Cassie and my mom going out of her way to be the perfect guardian. Actually, she went out of her way to get guardianship of Cassie. Can't believe I have to see that girl more now than ever before."

Melissa rolled her eyes. It wasn't the first time she had heard this during the summer either. "You can't seriously be upset your mom took guardianship of your friend to stop social services from carting her away to some girls' home for the next two years."

"She's not my friend," Faye argued.

"I think you're closer friends with Cassie then you'd like to admit. There was a time when you actually wanted to be her sister, remember?" Faye gave Melissa one of her best 'bitch stares' since she didn't like being reminded of that day. Melissa just stared back until there was a knock on the door.

Both jumped up and turned around. In the doorway was Melissa's father. Patrick Glaser was a tall man, at the moment he had short hair but Faye knew from a lifetime of visits to Melissa's that Patrick changed his hair length a lot. If she remembered right at one point he had been in possession of a small afro. He had really kind brown eyes and always seemed to have a huge smile on his face. "If you girls are both ready, we can leave early."

"Yeah," Faye said more then willing to leave for a sunny beach early.

"No," Melissa said. "We'd love to dad, but Faye forgot that we told Adam, Jake, and Cassie we would meet with them before we leave for the beach. We actually have to get going now. We'll probably be the last ones there."

"Oh yeah, see you later Mr. Glaser. We'll be back as soon as possible." Faye ran past Patrick.

"Bye dad, see you soon." Melissa kissed her dad on the cheek as she ran out.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie walked downstairs slowly, nodded though the person on the end of the phone couldn't see her. "Yeah, Mrs. Chamberlain, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Faye's mother had always seemed a little distant, but lately she'd become a much better mother to Cassie and Faye. "I know that part of my guardianship agreement lets you stay at your home…"

"It's fine." Truthfully the creaks and groans of the old house were beginning to make Cassie wish she wasn't alone, but she would never admit it. "I like it here."

"It reminds you of them."

Silent tears slipped down her face despite the best efforts to stop them. "Yeah, it does."

"I just want you to know that if you ever get lonely you can come over here." Dawn said. "You'll always be welcome."

Cassie sniffled. She was always lonely now. "Thank you, Mrs. Chamberlain."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Adam watched carefully as his father walked out of the Boathouse. "Sorry, what was your order again?" he asked the pretty brunette he was serving. She reminded him of Diana with her soft smile and curly brown hair.

"A salad, please." She said. He flashed her a quick smile and hurried back to the pantry to get more lettuce.

The summer had certainly been interesting. Adam had only recently gotten back from his trip to bury the skull. They'd had to put it on hold while Cassie went through weeks of legal issues as Dawn fought to be her guardian. Adam had refused to leave, mostly because Cassie had requested he stay. It was awkward to be around her after she kissed him at the funeral, but she had no one else. Faye couldn't be counted on, Jake was too absorbed with Faye, Melissa was keeping them out of trouble twenty-four seven, and Diana was gone. He had been the only person she could depend on, and even that was only to a certain extent.

Adam came back and mixed the salad quickly, handing it to the girl. She laughed when he nearly dropped it on the floor. "Distracted, much?" she asked, pulling a piece of lettuce off of her dress.

"Yeah, sorry." Said Adam. Her huge brown eyes captured him for a moment, but he broke eye contact. He checked to see if his dad was still gone. "Do you need anything else, miss…?"

"It's Emily." The girl smiled. "And no, I'm fine, thank you."

He left her in peace, making his way to the duffel bag placed on the floor. He scooped in up in one hand and left before he was seen.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Jake turned the vial over in his hand for the hundredth time. What was the dirt, or the sand inside it for? He knew that his Grandpa might be crazy, but he would never send Jake something that said it fought dark magic but didn't. He wished he could test it, but there wasn't enough. He didn't want to waste a single grain.

He'd considered visiting his Grandpa many times, but there was never a good moment. Faye was always over at his house wanting attention, and he could hardly resist giving her what she craved. Then she'd been dragged into all the legal stuff regarding Cassie, so he had to be supportive. If he'd learned anything that summer, it was that Faye appreciated being treated like a human being. Jake wondered why he hadn't been kinder to her before. It had taken a life-and-death situation for him to realize she was actually a good person on the inside, someone who just wanted to be loved.

He sighed. He could think about Faye later. Right now he had to figure out just how this little vial of sand would keep away the other Balcoins.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Hello?" Cassie called, walking in her father's old house. It was still weird being there, especially since she'd killed Blackwell in the very same building a few months ago. Of course, that thought brought Diana to mind, so she shrugged it away.

The Circle was gathered on the walkway that sounded the main room. Cassie could see Faye lounging on Jake's lap, looking like she owned the place. As soon as she spotted Cassie Faye leaned down and gave Jake a very thorough kiss. Cassie rolled her eyes.

"Ready to start?" she asked, coming up to where they were and taking a seat. "That is, if you have time to come up for air?"

Faye looked up, shot Cassie a disdainful glance, and when back to mouth-attacking Jake.

Cassie sighed. "So, Adam, how did it go?"

"I—what? Oh, the skull." Adam said quickly. "Uh, yeah. I went to the beach—a rural one—and it's safe. No one will find it. It's buried in sand…. So it's neutralized."

Melissa's eyebrows went up, making it obvious she sensed Adam's nervousness too. The quiet witch watched him with eye full of concern. Adam looked like he wanted to bolt.

"You okay?" Faye asked, suddenly uninterested in her boyfriend. Jake's expression mirrored Faye's words.

Adam shrugged. "I… I guess."

"You don't look like it." said Cassie. She took a step closer. "Did something happen…?"

"No, no, of course not!"

Melissa said, "Then what's wrong?"

Adam shifted back and forth on his feet, as though debating whether he should run or not. "I was just around that skull a lot, and… there's something about it."

Cassie tensed. Had the dark magic gotten to him?

"It's… eerie. The whole time I was traveling down to the beach that I buried it at I didn't get any rest. I think it was trying to scare me or something. I know it's stupid to think, since it's an inanimate object and everything…"

"That's awful." Melissa sympathized. "Well, you don't have to worry about it anymore."

"You didn't happen to bury it at Salsbury beach, did you?" Faye asked. Her hands absently roamed through Jake's hair as she spoke.

"No, why?"

Melissa giggled. "That's where we're going this weekend."

"The last beach weekend of the summer!" Faye declared, bouncing up from Jake's lap in a very un-Faye-like manner. She gave her friend and impulsive hug, making Melissa laugh even more. "And with solo magic…."

"Perfect weather, volleyballs conveniently hitting us so that boys have to come over and apologize and then meet us—" Melissa continued, grinning.

"What?" Jake asked, clearly not like the last suggestion.

Faye danced away from Melissa, leaning down and giving him another lingering kiss. "Don't worry, the boys are for Melissa."

Now Adam was the one who looked surprised. Cassie wondered why, but she didn't really care about anything that the group was talking about. It was like the first day of school again, with her out of the loop.

"—and perfect bikini bodies, though we have those anyway, and not getting sand in awkward places since Faye knows a spell for that, and—" Melissa said, still on a roll.

"So then I guess we're done talking about the skull?" Cassie asked above the noise.

Faye gave her patented 'You're-an-idiot' look. "No duh, Cassie. It's gone, so we don't have to worry anymore. All you have to do now is brush up you're 'I'm a sad little orphan who just wants to be loved' smile for the boys. School starts soon, you know."

Cassie didn't reply. It didn't seem worth it, and Faye was already distracted.

"My dad texted me, we should really leave now." Melissa said. When Faye didn't answer she grabbed Faye's wrist and dragged her to her feet. "Come on, we have to go."

Planting a final kiss on his cheek, Faye bid Jake goodbye and followed Melissa out, the two shrieking and giggling hysterically.

"They seem to be having fun." Jake observed a bit sourly.

"No one is going to steal your girlfriend." Cassie snapped. "Look, we might as well go home. Clearly there's nothing else to talk about."

Adam nodded. "I have to… work."

"Yeah, sure." said Cassie despondently. "Jake?"

He started nervously. "I, um, have some stuff to take care of." When she kept looking at him he added, "Alone. Sorry."

"Then I guess I'll go home." Cassie said to herself. It would be another weekend alone. Dawn's offer was starting to seem more and more tempting.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

The little beep of the microwave let Cassie know her meal was done. She went and took out the left over pasta she had heated up for lunch. She had just gotten home that Monday afternoon, suddenly finding that she was ravenous. She sat down on the couch and turned on the TV as she started on her lunch.

It wasn't long later when the doorbell rang. Cassie looked over at the door not knowing who it could be. She had talked to the circle today and couldn't picture any of them coming over. If Diana had still been in Chance Harbor then she would have come over, but Cassie knew that was an impossibility. Dawn wasn't coming over today either. She couldn't think of anyone else who would come over, so she decided to ignore the door. It was probably just a salesman or a group of girl scouts.

Right when Cassie went to take another bite of her pasta the doorbell rang again. She put her food down and looked at the door again. She decided once again to ignore it, figuring whoever it was would go away eventually. Unfortunately she was proven wrong when the unknown visitor kept hitting the doorbell, making her fear it would be broken.

"Hold on a minute!" Cassie yelled, deciding she couldn't ignore them anymore. She took a sip of her drink and started to get up off the couch. By the time she started walking the doorbell turned into knocking. Very loud, very hard knocking. "I'm coming, I'm coming." Cassie had no idea who would just continue banging like this. No one in the Circle would do it, they would just unlock the door magically and barge in uninvited.

Cassie finally opened the door to figure out who it was. There were two boys standing at the door. They didn't look like they could be much older than her. They were both tall, easily taller than Cassie. They both had dark hair and blue eyes. They looked kind of familiar but after thinking it over real quick Cassie realized she had no idea who they were. They didn't go to her school and she had never met them before.

"Can I help you?" Cassie asked. The way the one on the left was looking at her was making her kind of nervous. He looked ready to kill her without a second thought. Cassie mentally readied herself to use magic at any moment.

"Tell us where our father is." the guy on the left, who she assumed was more of a straight to-the-point kind of guy, said.

"Um..." Cassie was confused. "I think you got the wrong address." Cassie started to close the door, but the same guy who had spoke moments ago stopped it with his hand.

"I've been nice." He growled. "I didn't knock down your door. You can thank Ryder for that." Cassie assumed Ryder was the other guy who had stayed quiet the whole time. "And I don't want to hurt you. I don't hurt family, but tell me now, little sister; where is our father? Where is John Blackwell?"

Cassie almost stepped back shocked, but she stood her ground. On the hand that was blocking the door Cassie now saw the same symbol that was on her own hand. She resisted the urge to look at it. Over the summer she had looked at it probably a million times and had traced it with her fingers even more. These boys were her _brothers_. John Blackwell's other children. The children Cassie had started to assume he was lying about.

"He's not here." Cassie told them.

"Where is he?" The one that Cassie knew was Ryder said finally talking for the first time since Cassie answered the door.

"Where he deserves to be!" Cassie told them. "NOW GET OFF MY FRONT PORCH." Cassie used all her magic, even her dark magic which she had been trying to avoid using, to push the two boys back. They didn't fly back the way she wanted them to but she was able to move them a bit. More than enough to close the door and lock it.

She barely got away from the door before the door was knocked down and across the room. _So much for not breaking the door _Cassie thought. Cassie was smart. She knew that closing and locking the door wasn't going to stop them for long. She thought it might have given her enough time to jump out her window and run to Jake's. In these situations she considered herself lucky to have another member of the circle living so close. She was also hoping that Faye might just be over there, although the two didn't really get on they would always have each other's back. Usually when it came to a fight Cassie wouldn't back down or run, but she knew both these boys were probably just as powerful as her and that it would be hard to face them alone. If she had two members of her circle with her then she might be willing to take them on. Cassie believed, even though they are not bound anymore, they were still stronger together. Now it looked like she was on her own.

The one who had obviously burst open her door and was yet to be named looked pissed. "Calm down, Lucas," Ryder said, finally letting Cassie know the other's name. "She's still our little sister." Cassie didn't like the way the two said little sister. They made it sound like they were better than her just because she was younger. "And she's a member of our circle, so let's give her another chance. Where's John Blackwell?"

Cassie looked around for a minute and then got a plan. She knew she couldn't tell them she killed John Blackwell or that he was dead. They seemed pissed enough now that he was missing, so she had to find a way out of this. "You know what, Ryder? I do need to tell you something." Cassie said, spotting a potential escape plan. "I have a Circle and neither of you are in it." A vase that her grandma used to love before she died flew from its spot and hit Lucas right in the back. At the same time a lamp flew over and hit Ryder.

"Okay, now I'm done be nice. We do this the hard way." Lucas said, throwing Cassie against a wall.

"Agreed, but let's not hurt her too badly." Ryder said as another lamp flew at them. This time they managed to duck before it hit either of them. Cassie then moved a chair. Lucas was able to avoid it, but it knocked Ryder off his feet for a second. He got back up almost right away. Cassie knew she couldn't win this fight with lamps and chairs, but she was hoping sending things at them might distract them long enough for her to escape. So far that wasn't working. She wondered if she had enough magic to fling the sofa at them, or possibly bring a wall down.

Then suddenly Ryder went flying into the wall by the door, a surprised look on his face and his body smashed through the drywall. Had she done that? Lucas turned to look and Cassie took the distraction, sending him flying into a wall. Adam right then came running it. Cassie realized what happened then. Adam had pushed Ryder into the wall with his magic. The two boys were back up and used their powers to push Adam right near Cassie. _Damn, these two just won't stay down, _Cassie thought, but now it was two on two. Together Adam and Cassie were able to keep the boys near the door; in fact they were nearly out the door. Adam seemed more powerful than Cassie remembered for some reason, but it was still basically a draw. Neither one of them were able to get the upper hand.

From over at his house Jake heard something going on. He came outside to see Cassie and Adam fighting with two boys he didn't know. When he saw that, Jake didn't even stop to think. All he saw was two members of his Circle in trouble and no one could say Jake didn't try to protect his Circle since he left the witch hunters. He's done everything he could to protect them, especially the girls; he would even protect Adam even though he didn't like him. Jake ran up and grabbed one of the boys. He was able to physically, with his own two arms not magic, throw the witch onto the grass.

When Jake threw Ryder onto the grass Lucas had turned around to look at Jake. He looked like he was ready to kill. He didn't get the chance though, since Cassie used the distraction Jake had provided and used all her power to throw Lucas onto the grass next to his brother. The two got up and looked at them.

"Lucas, Ryder, meet two members of my Circle. Adam," Cassie put one hand on Adam's shoulder as she said his name "And Jake." Cassie put her other hand on Jake's arm. She was more than confident now that they could take them. She and Adam had been able to hold them off; now that they had Jake the odds were on their side.

Lucas looked at them angry for a minute, but then glanced at Ryder. "Let's go for now." He said and the two went into a car that was parked in front of Cassie's house. The three watched as the two drove away and didn't start to talk until they were gone.

Cassie was the first to speak. "Thanks a lot, guys." She turned to face Adam. "That was some impressive magic you used. It seemed stronger then I remembered you being."

"What? Um... No... It wasn't. I had you for help and the guys were distracted when I showed up. They weren't expecting me. I'm nothing special. Not like you." Adam said it a little too fast and seemed nervous, but neither Cassie nor Jake noticed.

"Okay. Jake, we couldn't have done it without you."

Jake smiled at the compliment. "Yeah, I was pretty impressive, wasn't I?"

"You hit that guy." Adam said. "It's not like you used magic."

"It worked, didn't it?" Jake smirked.

Cassie sighed, rolling her eyes. "We defeated them, okay? It's all good, no need for a testosterone-fueled face-off."

"I have a question." Jake said, just realizing something. "Who were they? And why were they even here?"

"They're Ryder and Lucas, my big brothers." Cassie could see the shock on their faces.

"They are real! Blackwell wasn't lying!" Jake said. Cassie nodded. "I'll call the rest of the Circle and tell them to meet here." Cassie nodded again as Jake took out his cell phone to dial Faye.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

At the moment they were about fifteen miles outside of Boulder Utah, They'd just spent 3 days at a cute Motel called Pole's Place. Diana felt like she was on cloud nine, she'd spent the last three months with the sweetest guy she'd met in a long. It didn't hurt that he was cute, either.

"I still can't get over how cool the Anasazi Park was." Diana said, smiling at Grant.

"It was pretty cool, but I still don't think any place or anything we do will beat the four weeks we spent in Chicago." Grant said, sending Diana a playful smirk. Diana blushed at some of the memories, and laughed at the others.

"I can't believe we ran out of money! We'll have to stop back in at that diner later to say hi to Danny. He was so nice to give us those jobs knowing we would only be able to spend a very short time there."

"He had a soft spot for you, that's why. I think you remind him of his girl he talks so much about. You'd get away with calling him Danny, but if I tried to I bet he would have cut my arm off!" Diana burst out laughing at that comment. It was true; Grant had only been able to call Danny "Daniel" or "Sir".

A few miles down the road Grant pulled off into the shoulder.

"I'm grabbing a sandwich from the trunk, do you want one?"

"Yes, please." Diana said, flashing him a brilliant smile. Grant smiled back and headed around back, as he was opening the trunk his phone buzzed. Pulling his cell from his pocket, his heart dropped slightly as he saw the text was from his boss.

Okay, Grant, you've had your fun. I've been quite generous, letting you out of work for three month, but it's time you headed back to Chance Harbor. I'll be in Australia for the next two weeks. By time I arrive in Chance Harbor you had better be there. You know what will happen if you aren't.

Grant sighed, grabbing the sandwiches and getting back in the car.

"Is something wrong?" Diana asked, voice full of concern, but Grant's face was unreadable.

"Everything's fine" A genuine smile spread across his lips and he handed her the sandwich.

"So where to now?" He asked, causing her face to fall slightly.

"No idea."

"How about we drive until we find a place to stay?"

"I like that idea."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

After Jake made his call to Faye and Melissa he had ran home for a minute. He had said it was to get something, but he had nothing in his hands when he got back. In the time that Jake was gone Adam and Cassie had been able to magically put the door back up. Unfortunately everything Cassie had broken while fighting them was unfixable, even by magic. Cassie felt awful about breaking her grandma's favorite vase, but then again her Grandma was dead, so she wouldn't care about it.

It hadn't taken long for the whole circle to get there. Jake and Faye had what Melissa considered being an endearing reunion after a weekend apart, and what Cassie and Adam considered being a disgusting display of affection. They had quickly filed into Cassie's house some hugs and holiday gossip exchanged before they filled Faye and Melissa in on what happened so now they were all in Cassie's living room. Adam was leaning against a wall not saying anything. Faye and Jake sat next to each other on the couch. Jake had his arm around Faye and the two hadn't spoken since hearing the news. Cassie was sitting on the other couch in the room and had started eating her pasta again. The food had somehow avoid getting messed up during the fight although it did cool down a lot. All the talking and freaking out in the room went to the last member of the Circle present: Melissa.

Melissa was pacing back and forth just continuing to talk to no in particular besides herself. "I can't believe they are real. After not showing up all summer long I was certain Blackwell was lying. I mean, where have they been, hiding in some sewer or something? Why did they show up now? What do they have planned? HOW CAN YOU EAT AT A TIME LIKE THIS?" The last part was directed at Cassie.

Cassie swallowed her food before answering, "If I stopped eating every time something went wrong with magic or we found a new enemy I would starve to death."

"She has a point," Jake said.

"More importantly, is that the pasta that was leftover from the other night?" Faye asked and Cassie nodded since she had taken another bite. "I was looking for that and couldn't find it."

When Cassie was done chewing and had swallowed, she answered Faye. "Mrs. Chamberlain gave it to me." One of the good things about having Dawn as a guardian was she was always making sure Cassie had something to eat. Since Cassie had to check in with her every once in a while Dawn made her come over for dinner a lot and gave her leftovers when she was leaving. The only down side about that was she was spending a lot more time with Faye then she cared for.

"I can't believe this. You're over so much now and you're taking my leftovers. I like eating the pasta the next day for lunch."

"Are you seriously complaining because my guardian gave me leftovers?" Cassie loved reminding Faye that Dawn was her guardian. Faye always got this look in her eyes, like she wanted to throttle Cassie. Cassie had no idea why. It's not like she was living with them. Dawn was just in charge of making sure Cassie was okay, but the look was always funny.

"Don't you guys think we have more important things to talk about then pasta?" Melissa said, stopping anymore fighting between the two. "I mean with the amount you two argue with each other Faye should have been Blackwell other daughter. You guys have the whole sibling rivalry thing down." Faye and Cassie looked at Melissa like she was nuts and the group could barely hear Faye mumble under her breath "The only good thing about not being Blackwell's daughter was that I'm not her sister."

Jake stood up and put his hand on Melissa's shoulder. "Melissa, calm down. Take a deep breath. You pacing is not helping anything right now." Melissa nodded and took a seat next to Cassie and Jake took his seat back next to Faye, their hands immediately finding each others. "Okay, Cassie, you told us who they were, but not why they came here? Is there any other reason besides you being their sister?"

Cassie finished what was left of her pasta before answering. "They were looking for Blackwell."

"Did you tell them he was dead?" Melissa asked.

"No, I didn't think they would take the news that Diana and I killed him too well, so I decided to leave that part out."

"I say if they want Blackwell let's give them his body." Faye commented, apparently as a joke since she laughed about it. "Whatever happened to his body anyway? I know we didn't call the police."

"Okay, even if he hadn't been dead for months that suggestion is just gross." Cassie said. "Besides, there is no way Jake and I are digging up his grave for a third time. Unlike some TV shows lead you to believe, it's not that easy."

"You and Jake buried him in his own grave." Faye said, looking at Jake.

"We couldn't call the police. There's no reasonable explanation for why he died. Couldn't have them thinking murder. We'd all be suspects and then they would be looking into our lives. We couldn't have used magic until they dropped the case, so we put him where we thought he was for sixteen years." Jake answered.

"But the two of you spent a couple of hours together, alone, in the dark."

"Faye, don't tell me you're jealous that Jake and I dug up my father's grave to put his body in it because me and my sister killed him." Jake said.

"Yeah." Cassie agreed. "Because the dark, in a graveyard at night, with all the spooky noises and corpses and spiders is just so romantic."

Faye thought for a second. "Okay, good point." Just to prove something Faye kissed Jake, causing Cassie to roll her eyes.

"Can we get back to talking about all the evil children of John Blackwell?" Melissa asked and then turned to Cassie. "No offense. I didn't mean you or Diana."

"I know, none taken." Cassie assured Melissa.

"Shouldn't there be more than two?" Everyone looked at Melissa. "You said two boys came to the house, but Blackwell said he wanted to make a Balcoin circle. A circle is six. You, Diana, and these two boys make four. Where are the other two?"

"Good point," Jake said. "Since there were actually two other children we have to assume Blackwell was telling the complete truth; that there are another two children of John Blackwell out there somewhere but whether they're in town or not I don't know. I do have something to show you guys though." Jake went into his pocket and took out a piece of paper and a tube filled with something. "After Blackwell died my grandfather sent me this note in the mail along with this."

Jake passed the note to Faye who read it and then gave it to Melissa. Melissa handed it to Cassie who gave it over to Adam. Adam left his spot standing by the wall to take and read the note. He had been like a ghost in this meeting. He stood there watching and listening to everything that was said or done, but did not comment. It was weird since he used to speak up a lot in Circle meetings, but none of the other four presents seem to notice the difference in him or they just didn't care.

"What's in the tube?" Faye asked.

"I don't know." Jake said, holding it up. "I've been trying to figure it out."

"Looks like sand," Cassie commented.

"Or dirt," Faye said mostly to disagree with Cassie. Cassie didn't say anything not wanting to start another argument and besides the stuff in the tube could be either dirt or sand, but Faye liked the idea of it being dirt more. "So your crazy Grandpa went all Tia Dalma on you?" she asked getting a few odd looks from the others. "Or not. Let's open it up and see if it does anything." Faye reached for the device but Jake took hold of her hand before she could touch it.

"No," Jake stated. "Whatever this stuff is it could be important. We don't want to waste it." Faye looked like she was about to argue, but stopped when Melissa and Cassie agreed with Jake. She realized she was out voted and in a room full of witches it was hard to argue with that. "Besides that I don't think there is too much else to talk about."

Jake made to get up and leave but Melissa stopped him. "There is one other thing. Cassie should stay at Faye's tonight.'

Both Cassie and Faye jumped up from their spots on the couch. "WHAT! NO!" They said together and then looked at each other.

"You can't make me." Cassie added, for good measure.

Melissa lifted her hand to point at the two. "The Balcoins seem to want you, and you'd be safer with another witch around. Faye's is the best place to stay."

Both Faye and Cassie didn't like the idea, but luckily with the help of Jake both agreed to the idea. They might be a part of the same Circle and sort of be friends, but they fought constantly. It got a little annoying. It did make sense for Cassie to go to Faye's house. There would be three witches there, Cassie, Faye, and Dawn. It also made perfect sense because Dawn was Cassie's guardian, so the two agreed to it.

Adam notices Cassie is hesitant though and says "You can stay at my house tonight, if you want." It was the first time he spoken all meeting.

Cassie looked at him. "No thanks," Cassie declined the request. "Even with a magic elixir taking away your feelings it's still weird to stay at your ex-boyfriends house overnight."

"Besides, you two get too close and my boyfriend ends up dead. I'd rather have Cassie at my house than have that happen." Faye said. Cassie looked at her remembering her saying something similar before prom. Cassie just nodded her agreement remembering the curse and got up to pack a bag for her overnight stay at Faye's.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Thank you for having me, Mrs. Chamberlain." Cassie said shyly, smiling as Dawn let her in. Thing might be rough with Faye, but her mom was always so nice around Cassie. It made Cassie wonder why she and Faye couldn't be better friends.

"It's no problem at all, Cassie." Dawn said earnestly. She laid a hand on Cassie's shoulder. 'You know that you can stay here whenever you want. If you ever want to move in—"

"No." Faye snapped, shoving past Dawn and Cassie. "Please, let's not get that extreme."

Cassie said, "It's okay. I like being alone sometimes, and that house reminds me of my Grandma and my Mom."

"Of course." said Dawn. "Did you enjoy the pasta I gave you?"

Cassie could practically feel Faye's eyes burning into the back of her head. "Yeah, it was great."

Dawn nodded. She looked like she wanted to say something else, but instead she just hugged Cassie briefly and then headed back upstairs.

"Something wicked this way comes." Faye quoted snarkily from her perch on the couch. "You know, I think sometimes she liked you better than me."

Cassie shook her head, warily joining Faye. Some unknown show was on. "No she doesn't. You're her daughter; I'm just the girl that she gives food to."

"According to her, you have 'manners' and you're 'polite' and all that." Faye grumbled. "If she knew you were the queen of the underworld..."

"It's not like that, Faye." Cassie said.

"Diana seemed to see it that way." Faye bit out. She regretted it when she saw Cassie's face fall, but since she had already crossed that line there was no stopping. "That's why she left. She got scared by all the dark magic you released inside her."

"Shut up." Cassie's voice was suddenly serious. "I mean it."

Faye shrugged. "It's the truth, and don't you even think about strangling me, O Spawn of Hell." Cassie glared furiously at her mocking tone. "What? You invade my home and take my Mom's affection, you get what you deserve. Besides, you sat down next to me. You could have just walked away and avoided this whole thing."

Cassie was seething with rage, but she gulped heavily, trying to breathe. She couldn't lose it and choke Faye. She just couldn't. It would mean losing the last person she had left that could count as family: Dawn.

Slowly the tension in her chest uncoiled. Cassie unclenched her fists to see that she had accidentally cut her palms with her fingernails. The tiny crescent-moon marks stung when she tried to blot at them with a tissue.

"You're still here?" asked Faye irritably, glancing at Cassie. She noticed Cassie's hand, her brow crinkling. "Damn. I look away for five seconds and already you're hurt again."

The concern in Faye's voice surprised Cassie, and she felt oddly ungrateful. "I'm fine."

"Suit yourself." Faye said.

"I'm not stealing anyone's affection." Cassie added, her voice softer. She felt like she would never be truly loved by a parent again. After all, the only family she had left were relatives who barely knew her scattered across the country, and Diana. Both of those weren't an option for Cassie anyway.

Faye cast her a sideways glance, annoyed again. "Well, my mom fawns over you all the time. It's always, 'Do you think Cassie's okay?' 'How is Cassie feeling?' 'Did Cassie have a good lunch at school today?' 'Did Cassie like the pasta I gave her?'"

"It's not like that." Cassie said. "I try to stay out of the way, I really do."

"Try harder." Faye got up, dropping the remote on the couch next to Cassie. "I'm going out."

"Where?"

"Why, are you going to tell on me?" Faye asked, voice mimicking a five-year-olds.

Cassie sighed. "No, Faye. Besides, the only place you could possibly be going is Jake's."

"Maybe."

As the brunette stalked out Cassie clenched her fists again, the tiny red half-moons on her palms burning. It just wasn't fair.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Melissa was very bored. She stared at the computer, wondering what to do. Faye didn't answered her cell, Cassie wasn't online and Adam... well he was probably busy at the boathouse. She tried to avoid the thought of everybody so busy with their own lives and just called for her in emergency situations. What happened with spending some normal time with friends? She shook her head and tried to put those thoughts away, everybody was in a messed up situation and she didn't want to be that kind of person.

Finally decided to spend the day by herself, she got up and decided to go look for a snack. Maybe a lot of junk food and a good film would put her in a better mood.

She took one second looking at her cell, wondering if she should take it with her down stairs. She left it on the computer desk: at this point, she doubted someone would call her and ask her if she wanted to watch a film or anything like that.

And it was still in the middle of the afternoon.

She went down stairs, trying to remember what there was on the fridge and when she passed by the door, the bell rang.

Melissa stood there for a minute. It rang again.

With a smile showing upon her face, she walked to it, trying to imagine which one of her friends was there to save her. Hopefully it would be Faye. The beach trip had been so much fun, and Melissa found herself missing her best friend already.

Unfortunately none of her friends were there. Melissa stared at the two boys in front of her, and she didn't know either of them.

They looked around the same age, not too much older than herself. The one who was closest to the door seemed very relaxed, with his hands in the jeans pockets, smiling.

It was a very nice smile for a very cute guy.

"Hi!" He said in an enthusiastic way, like they were old friends. Melissa couldn't help but laugh a little at his friendly demeanor. The other gave her a little smirk.

"Hi." She said to him.

"Good afternoon." He said once again.

"Same to you, I guess." Ok, that was very funny but she started to wonder who the two were.

"So, would you mind come out here?" The one with cute smile asked her, very naturally.

Melissa took one second to process that weird situation.

"What? Why?" She finally asked.

"So we don't have to go inside and break your entire house." The other guy said.

Melissa stared at them. The first guy gave her a cute smile again.

Suddenly a lot of images started to run through her brain: demons, witch Hunters, evil witches, demons.

Cursing the moment she opened the damn door, Melissa tried to close it, but it was pushed back to her with such a force that she was threw into the air. Melissa fell onto the floor and the two walked in. She saw shoes stepping and felt some sort of invisible power stopping her from moving, this was starting to become a regular thing.

"You really have a nice carpet." The guy with the cute smile said as he walked to her.

He took his hand from his pocket and showed his palm to Melissa. She saw a scar that reminded her of a symbol, and when she thought about it she thought she was close to figuring out who the two were, but before she could everything became blurred and black. She passed out.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Jake walked into his room to find a very naked Faye Chamberlain lying in his bed. Any other time he would make some sexy quip and joined her, but today was different, He'd been spending so much time trying to figure out just exactly what that thing his grandfather sent him was, and today he felt like some progress had been made.

"Hello Faye."

"Jake, do you like my outfit?"

"What outfit Faye?" He asked, walking over to his desk and turning on his desk lamp before sitting down and inspecting the vial of sand for the thousandth time.

"Aw Jake, I spent hours worrying over what the perfect outfit to wear for you would be. I think this one is perfect." Her voice came out in a seductive little purr.

Jake thought for a moment, He loved being with Faye and the idea really wasn't that bad, but at the same time… "I'm not in the mood tonight."

"Not in the mood? Jake, have you actually taken a good look at me yet?" Faye pouted.

Jake put the vial down and turned to look at her, a playful grin on her face. She was right, because as always she looked amazing, not a hair out of place. And the way she looked sitting on his bed, with the sheets wrinkling and bundled around her… No man in his right mind would turn the girl down, but in a way Jake really wasn't in his right mind. The entire summer Jake had been trying to figure out what the damn vial was that it had practically become an obsession. He'd probably lost his mind in the last month with the theories on what it could be, he was half tempted to call every person who sold witch artifacts in the country, but was afraid that others knowing about it could cause more drama. More people wanting it, some would be willing to take it by force.

"Faye, I'm sorry I'm not in the mood." Faye got up and walked over to Jake a swing in her hips as she straddled Jake and wrapped her legs around his waist, reaching her hand up she ran a hand through Jake's hair a few times before kissing him, soft at first but building into a rough kiss, then slowly she bit on and tugged his lip.

"Are you sure about that?" She asked, knowing full well that that kiss had a one hundred percent success rate in working on Jake, but today that success rate had changed to ninety-nine point nine of the time. He had already set his mind against it.

"Yes Faye, I am. I'm tired." Faye's eyes narrowed at him, mouth slightly open in shock and a mix of hurt. She sat there and stared at him for a minute.

"Fine then." She said, unwrapping her legs from around him, grabbing her long coat she buttoned it up tied the waist up and left without another word.

"Shit." Jake murmured knowing he had messed up. After a moment of replaying the scene in his mind and thinking how much easier it would have been to just give in and work after she left, he picked the sand vial up again and switched his laptop on and went back to researching.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie was sitting on her bed… though technically it wasn't hers. Her bed was at her house. Dawn had made up the guest room for Cassie and had told Cassie whenever she needed it this would be her room at Dawn's house. Cassie was thankful for all Dawn was doing for her, but she really wished she could be at her own house, in her own room. She knew Melissa had been right though. It would be too dangerous a risk to stay by herself tonight with her Balcoin siblings on the loose in Chance Harbor.

With Faye having left she had nothing to do, so she took out her cell phone. She thought about calling a member of her Circle but decided against. Faye was either with Jake or Melissa and things with Adam were weird. Instead of calling anyone she decided to go looking through her pictures.

The first one was of her mom. The picture was taken a few months before her mom had died when Cassie had gotten the cell phone. Her mom was in their kitchen. Cassie remembered yelling "Mom!" and taking the picture the minute Amelia turned around. Cassie remembered Amelia saying it wasn't fair and that she should have given her more warning so she could look better. The picture was taking right in front of their kitchen sink. Amelia had been washing dishes when she had turned around. She looked like any house mother with the rubber gloves on. Cassie thought how ironic it was that the only picture she had of her mom, besides the one her grandma had from when her mom lived in Chance Harbor, was in the place Amelia had ended up dying. All the other pictures, the family vacations, and everything else had burned down in the fire. By the time the fire was put out almost everything in it was destroyed and the family photo albums had been in the kitchen cabinet. They never stood a chance. Looking at the only picture she had left of her mom tears started to form in Cassie's eyes.

Cassie switched to the next picture hoping to get her mind off her mom, but it didn't help. This picture was of her grandma. Cassie had taken it right after she had moved in with her grandma, before she knew about the witch stuff. That seemed so long ago. Her grandmother had been sitting at the kitchen table. Cassie had given her warning before taking the picture, so she had smiled. Looking at the picture Cassie couldn't help but think of the last time Cassie saw her grandma, when Cassie had discovered her body. It was after she had told Diana she was her sister. Diana had asked her to leave and Cassie had agreed. It was a lot to take in. Cassie had come home calling for her grandma and then saw her on the floor. She had run over hoping she might be able to help her grandma, but the minute she saw her grandma's body Cassie knew she was dead. Tears were actually falling out of Cassie's eyes now and she was wiping them away not wanting to start sobbing at Faye's house. If Faye saw her she would mercilessly tease Cassie.

Cassie went to the next picture which was Diana. Diana had been standing in front of her locker, dazzling smile lighting up her face. Diana had left Cassie just like Amelia and Jane, but Diana had made the choice to leave. Diana could have stayed with her, but she left. She chose to leave Cassie all on her alone. Cassie had no family besides Diana. She didn't count the other Balcoin children as family and Cassie didn't think she ever would. They might be blood, but they weren't her real siblings. Diana is and always will be her sister, but Cassie wasn't even too sure she would ever see Diana again. Everyone had left Cassie. Cassie thought that it was the most unfair thing in the world, that she was able to lose all of her family when she was sure she didn't deserve it.

"Are you okay?" Cassie heard Dawn say from the door. Cassie didn't answer. She felt Dawn sit down next to her on the bed and put a hand on her back. "Hey, you want to talk about it?" Cassie shook her head. "Are you sure?" Cassie nodded. "You want to be left alone?" Cassie nodded again. "Okay, I'll be downstairs if you change your mind." Dawn got up and left. Cassie heard the door shut behind her.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Adam! Is Melissa here?" Faye asked as she walked into the boathouse. Truthfully was she wasn't originally looking for Melissa, but after seeing the boathouse and knowing she spent a good deal of time here with Adam nowadays, it was a good bet her best friend would be there. She needed to vent about Jake, and Melissa was the girl for the job.

"Nope." He said after calming down from the start Faye had given him. He hadn't heard the girl come in, and her voice was quite loud.

"Well where is she?"

"Faye, why do you automatically assume I know where she'd be?"

"You two have been awfully chummy lately, I mean all summer if I couldn't find her it was because she was here or off with you somewhere."

"Sorry, I don't know." His words were full of agitation

"Well, I guess now you get to fill in for her. I need to vent." She said a grin spreading on her face.

"Go away Faye, I'm working." He cast a stern look at her, but she was already doing a puppy dog face.

"Damn it Faye, no!"

"But Adddaaaammmm…" she whined, Adam rolled his eyes.

"Fine. But I'm not going to stop working." Smiling Faye went and sat down on one of the bar stools and quickly got lost in her own world.

"The thing is, Adam, Jake is losing interest with me over that stupid vial of sand." Adam's shoulders tensed a little.

"He's so worked up over that thing. He believes it has something to do with that skull." Suddenly a glass was lying broken on the ground.

"What the hell Adam?" Faye screeched, jumping a bit.

"Sorry, it, uh, slipped." He said coolly, hoping she'd buy it, when really it had exploded.

"Right… anyways… Today, I go over there in the best outfit I own, my birthday suit-"

"Why am I not surprised?" Adam asked, grabbing the broom to start sweeping up the broken glass.

"Don't interrupt! Anyways, I'm lying on his bed waiting for him and he completely turned me down. I tried so hard, but he wouldn't budge, just kept staring at the damn sand."

"You're right, turning down a naked Faye? Something must be wrong with him."

"I'm not sure if that was sarcasm or not." Faye said and Adam just rolled his eyes and continued trying to get all the glass into the dust pan.

"I'm not sure if I want to vent to you anymore… So now you can tell me what the hell exploding that glass was about?" Adam tensed back up

"I told you Faye, I accidentally knocked it over."

"No, you didn't. I saw it shatter."

"You're imagining things, Faye. Did you take some Devil's Spirit again?"

"Adam, you're hiding something, I can sense it. You're all twitchy and un-Adam-like. Tell me? Please?"

"Get out, Faye." He responded angrily.

"Not until you tell me what's up."

"Nothing is up." This time his words were full of warning.

Sensing possible danger she backed off. "Fine, But I will find out what you're hiding Adam, I will."

"Goodbye, Faye."

"Bye." She said walking out. As soon as she got out to the street she called Melissa's cell. It must have been dead or something, because it went straight to voice mail. Dialing her home phone Melissa's dad picked up

"Hello?"

"Hello Mr. Glaser! Is Melissa home?"

"Faye? I thought she left with you. She's been gone about an hour now."

"Oh, she probably just went out with Adam or Cassie, Thanks though."

"If you find her, tell her to call me? She hasn't checked in yet, and her phone must've died or something."

"Will do! Bye Mr. Glaser!"

_Well that's not good._ Faye thought, dialing Cassie.

"Hey, Cassie. Emergency meeting now, Melissa's missing and my spidey senses are tingling." Without giving Cassie a chance to respond, Faye quickly hung up and shot a text to Adam and Jake while racing to the abandoned house. Swearing who ever had Melissa would be in a whole world of hurt if they touched one hair on the girl's head.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie had spent a good fifteen minutes sitting there crying until she finally calmed down. Not too long later her phone started to ring.

Cassie picked up the phone to see who it was. It was Faye! Why was she calling? Cassie answered the phone, but before she could even say hello Faye said: "Hey, Cassie. Emergency meeting now, Melissa's missing and my spidey senses are tingling."

Faye, what do you mean?" There was no answered though. Faye had hung up right after she was done talking. "What the hell? Spidey senses? What does that... nevermind." Cassie said. She just hoped that Melissa wasn't in too much trouble. She still could remember Diana telling her about the Devil's Spirit incident.

Cassie jumped off her bed and took her car keys. She ran down the stairs as fast as she could and to the door. "Where are you going?" Dawn asked, looking at Cassie.

"Meeting up with Faye and the others. Faye and I will be back soon. No need to worry." Cassie lied, not wanting to get Dawn worried or upset. For all she knew Faye was overreacting, but she wasn't going to take that chance. She left the house and went to go meet with her circle.

Cassie walked to the abandoned house. She didn't see anything; the thoughts were running around in her brain so quickly that she could barely see where she was walking. She had a sick feeling churning in her stomach, praying that her friends would be okay.

There was no one left to go to for help.

Faye caught her when they were in the little space of grass around the house. She suddenly grabbed Cassie's arm and stopped her. Cassie looked at her, with confusion, and Faye put a finger to her lips: _quiet_. Then, she pointed to her own ears: _listen_. Jake and Adam were a few steps away.

Cassie forced herself to clear her mind so she could hear the voices coming from inside the house. In that moment, Jake passed by them and, like a cat, walked to the door. Cassie watched him to open it without a single noise – which seemed a huge victory, since that old door was as creaky as hell – and made a sign for them to follow him.

Cassie, doing her best to not make a noise with the boots, went after him with Faye, who had a furious expression on her face. Cassie had to admire her. Faye had a fair amount of flaws like anyone did, but she was always so fearless when she needed to defend her friends.

Adam was already with them, waiting for his turn. They got in, hidden by the little corner that gave access to the living-room. In the meanwhile, the voices were getting louder and the words became clearer. With an unpleasant feeling in her stomach, Cassie recognized the voices of Lucas and Ryder.

These last months had given her a whole new meaning to the words "familiar problems".

Melissa just couldn't believe the situation she was in. That is what you get when you try to be nice to strangers, looking at the whole picture of the past months: demons, witch hunters and a psycho-evil-witch, she probably should have known better.

Well, it wasn't like she had never been fooled by strange men with pretty smiles before.

She has been watching Cassie's brothers – and Diana's, she reminded herself – arguing, while she was kept magically bound to the stairs. They had confused her with Diana, she noticed by the conversation. Why, she had no idea; it's not like she and Diana were too much alike.

Melissa had already considered a thousand ways of escape from her prison, and every one was more James Bond than the other. She even tried to use magic: she threw a chair in Ryder's direction and when he got distracted Melissa felt the invisible force that kept her captive disappear. She ran to the door, but when she was about to get there, Lucas got her. With a coldest look she had ever seen, he grabbed her by the neck and threw her to the floor, Ryder reassuming the responsibility for keeping her there and there she had stayed since then.

"What kind of description is that, anyway?" Ryder was yelling and being able to keep a sarcastic ton. "Has a kind heart? We are lucky we didn't bring that florist by mistake, someone who lives surrounded by daisies must be kind of heart!"

"Why would you think it was the florist?" A younger boy showed up from the back of the house, holding a milk bottle, probably from the little closet full of snacks the Circle use to keep. Melissa didn't think she had seen him before. "Isn't she like two hundred years old?"

"Whatever, Dylan."

"Well, what did you want?" The girl yelled back. "A physical description of someone I've never seen?"

"If you weren't sure," Lucas said, with a very cold voice, in contrast with his brother's yells. "You shouldn't have said it was her, you should have just kept your damn mouth shut. Now we're stuck here with this hostage, who, by the way, is _useless_!"

For some reason, Lucas seemed to make Claire more nervous than before.

"I'm sorry! I-I really thought it was the right person..."

"You thought?" Lucas finally exploded, sending waves of an amazing fury that made Melissa shrink. "Great, Claire, just great. I guess since you thought it then it must be true."

Melissa actually felt bad for the girl, Claire. She seemed so young and small, being yelled at by her two older brothers... She seemed so desperate to make them understand that she had made a mistake.

When Melissa woke up, Claire had been there, looking at her. She even offered her a glass of water and asked how she was feeling until Ryder told her to stop being friendly with the hostage. After that Claire had stayed in a corner, watching the others.

When Lucas grabbed her again, after she tried to hit Ryder with another chair, she saw Claire looking at her with cold, angry eyes, like Melissa had tried to hit her too.

"You know..." said Melissa, very calm, attracting all the eyes to her. "If you two had been smart enough to ask my name before, I would have told you that I wasn't Diana."

"Why would we even ask your name," Lucas asked with angry sarcasm, "when our sister just pointed right at you, with the certainty of a gun to a damn target?"

"Now, that was a nice illustration." The younger boy, Dylan, had a milk mustache. Lucas looked at him with cold eyes.

"Shut up." Besides his look, his voice was perfectly calm once again.

Dylan cleaned his milk mustache. Suddenly, he didn't seem so confident.

"I didn't know!" Claire seemed had finally reached the limit of being yelled at. "I couldn't know, I just knew that Diana was supposed to be kind, and I felt lots of kindness coming from her, so I just assumed it was her!"

"Claire." Lucas didn't yelled this time, but for some reason Melissa's stomach contracted. "You are the only one around here that can feel people's energy, and you are saying that you couldn't know she wasn't our sister? Are you that stupid?"

After that there was a heavy silence. Lucas kept looking at Claire with those cold blue eyes and she was suddenly breathing very fast.

"We should kill you, Claire."

He actually said that like he was really considering the possibility.

"Come, on, Lucas," Dylan said, his voice sounded a little more worried than anytime before. "She didn't know. Just leave her alone."

"Lucas," Ryder called, getting to make Lucas finally stop starring at Claire and look at him. "Let's settle this later. Right now, we should really be talking about what to do with her."

Ryder pointed at Melissa. All of them were looking at her, and she felt very weak. She wished she hadn't forgotten her cell phone in the room. Maybe she could improvise some trick to call someone of the Circle.

Now, she was all alone and even one of them was too strong for her.

"What's your name, again?" asked Lucas.

"M-Melissa," She tried to sound brave, but the gasping got in the way.

"Well, I suggest we kill her," Ryder made his opinion in a very relaxed way, like he was saying they should fix the roof. "Let's admit it, this whole situation is very embarrassing and I don't want anyone else to know about our apparent lack of talent for the criminal life. It's bad for the reputation."

Melissa would have rolled her eyes, but the gravity of her situation didn't allow disrespectful acts like that.

Lucas was looking at her in a very disturbing way. He didn't seem to have listened to anything after 'let's kill her'.

Melissa wished she could yell for someone.

"Did you know," Lucas said to Melissa, "that if you kill a witch in the right way, you can absorb its powers?"

"Ok. Now we are getting somewhere." Ryder said as he pressed his hand to his head, Melissa thought he looked tired.

Melissa felt the blood going away of her head.

"What?" She couldn't stop herself. "Murder another witch to suck the magic, is that something you do usually?" Lucas just looked at her. "You are disgusting! This is low, even for people like you!"

"People like me?" Lucas walked closer to her, and she saw that cold fury in him again, but this time her own indignation didn't allow her to be scared. "People like you don't know a first thing about people like me."

Melissa and Lucas stared at each other, and she was very aware of the eyes of the other Balcoins on them. Ryder smiled and without taking the eyes from her, He took a knife from somewhere in his clothes.

"Now," He said, putting the knife close to Melissa's face. "This is how works: I open your chest, take your heart out and we get your powers. It must be done fast, understand, because if you wait too long, the spell doesn't work anymore. So, forgive me if I am not exactly careful."

Melissa heard his voice and it sounded like she was underwater. So, that is how she would end: being sucked to death by a dark witch family. She wondered how long it would take for her friends to realize she was missing. Weeks? Days?

"This is getting out of control," She could hear Dylan again, from very far away.

"Now, I would like to say that it won't hurt," Lucas said again. "But I wouldn't know. I never get hurt."

"I would be pleased in giving you a first experience."

Melissa thought she was hallucinating. Her eyes went to the door, desperate, and she saw Cassie, Faye, Jake and Adam standing there. She had to blink to be sure she wasn't dreaming or seeing things because of the panic.

She wasn't.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

When Cassie, Faye, Adam, and Jake got into the abandoned house they saw Melissa tied to a chair and Lucas was standing in front of her with a knife. Cassie didn't waste anytime and used her magic to throw Lucas away from Melissa. Faye and Jake ran to free Melissa and then all five of them stood as one in front of the four shocked Balcoins. They hadn't expected a fight.

"Hey," Claire said pointing at Cassie. "She's our sister."

"We know that, Claire," Lucas said at the same time Ryder said "Shut up."

"Lucas, Ryder," Cassie said, completely pissed. "You tried to kill a member of my Circle." One of the plants the circle had in the house exploded from Cassie's anger. "No one tries to kill my Circle. Blackwell found that out the hard way."

"What did you do with dad?" The younger boy, Dylan, asked.

"Shut it," Lucas said, but then asked, "What _did_ you do with him?"

"You really want to know? Diana and I killed him. Right here in this house." Another few plants exploded from Cassie's anger.

Melissa put a hand on Cassie's shoulder. "Cassie, calm down. You guys got to me in time, and they only took me thinking I was Diana. No one was hurt, okay?" Cassie took a deep breath and calmed down. "Why kidnap me, even if I was Diana?" It was a question Melissa had wanted to know since Lucas and Ryder took her.

The two boys looked at each other. They knew they were out numbered five to four. That even if they decided to fight Claire and Dylan at this point wouldn't be the much help, so it would be the two of them against the five witches standing before them. They knew Cassie was just as powerful as them and they knew one of the boys by her side also had some power. For all they knew the black-haired girl with them was the real Diana. The boys weren't dumb. They knew it was better for them to get out of here now and try again another day when the odds were better on their side.

"We wanted to know what Diana knew about what happened to our father, but after what happened at Cassie's house we decided we needed a plan." Ryder said, not trusting his brother to keep calm. They had to talk their way out of this house alive and he had the best shot of doing that. "I guess we now know what happened to him." Ryder shot a look at Cassie. "Why kill our father?"

"He wanted to use the crystal skull to kill all the witches in the world. Diana and I didn't want to let that happen, since we care for our friends." Now that Cassie was calm she also realized the best way out of here was talking. She knew these two boys had no problem killing and if it came to a fight they would be willing to do anything. As for the younger two, Cassie had a feeling they would obey their older siblings.

"We want the crystal skull," Lucas said before Ryder could open his mouth.

"You're too late, it's gone," Melissa said. She turned her head and smiled at Adam, who didn't even see it. As soon as the skull got mentioned Adam started acting weird.

"Um... Yeah... It's gone. You'll never find it." Adam said slowly walking backwards.

"Where are you going?" Jake whispered so the Lucas and Ryder wouldn't hear. He grabbed hold of Adam's arm to stop him from leaving.

"Well... it seems like everything here is fine, and I have to get back."

"Why?"

"I have to check on the Boathouse, and my dad."

"I thought your dad stopped drinking," Faye said. She was the only that seemed to notice how strangely Adam has been acting lately. Not having anything to say about that, Adam stood behind Cassie and joined what seemed to have turned into a staring contest with the other Blackwell children.

"How about a truce?" Ryder said finally breaking the silent. "I'm sure we can all see fighting won't get us anywhere. Besides we don't want to hurt either of ours sisters. What do you say Cassie? Diana?"

The circle exchanged look. They knew who Cassie and Melissa were so that must mean now they think Faye was Diana. Cassie was thinking that could work in their advantage until Claire laughed. "Oh, Diana isn't in this room. The black-haired girl's heart is too full of greed, anger, and jealousy to be Diana."

"My heart? What?" Faye asked, confused and slightly insulted.

"Claire seems to be able to read energies or something. It's why they thought I was Diana." Melissa explained to the group.

"Where's Diana?" Lucas demanded. Cassie sent one of the potted plants the Circle kept in the house at Lucas's head. He managed to duck in time and the plant banged against the wall. "Stop doing that!" Lucas yelled. "Why are you always sending stuff at us?"

"Consider yourself lucky. I used to have a thing about choking people." The rest of the Circle held back their laughs at Cassie's comment. "The truce? What are the terms?"

"We agree not to touch another member of your circle again and in exchange you let us walk out of here right now. I'm sure you'll find this town is big enough for all of us."

"How about we let you walk out of here and all four of you leave town now." Jake countered evenly.

"How about take our deal or the new deal is I'll kill all of you besides Cassie, and then we take her out of Chance Harbor?" Lucas growled. Jake took a step forward as though he wanted to fight, but Faye stopped him from moving any closer by putting her hands on his shoulder.

"Remember, they all have evil mojo, like Cassie." Cassie who heard Faye's comment gave her a look, but chose to ignore Faye.

Cassie moved aside away from the door. "Guys, move aside. Let them go." Jake gave Cassie a look along with Faye. Truthfully Cassie had thought about just fighting it out now to see who would win. She knew her Circle could do anything if they were together, but they weren't together. They were missing Diana, who, along with Cassie, was the most powerful member of their circle. Cassie knew Lucas and Ryder were powerful and had no idea just how good the younger ones were. She knew she had to choose her battled carefully.

First Melissa, always one to try and avoid a fight, joined Cassie. Then Adam, who really only wanted to get out of there, moved away from the door. Faye was still pissed that they took her best friend, but decided that was something that could be taken care of another day. She went to join the rest of the circle tugging Jake's arm telling him to join. Jake gave them one last look before he went to stand in between Cassie and Faye.

"Go," Cassie told them pointing at the door her circle had previously been standing in front of. "Oh, and if you hurt or even try to hurt a member of my circle again I don't care how powerful you think you are. We'll come after you." It was a threat and the two older boys knew it. They weren't afraid though. They had plans to put in motion and had just gotten time to start.

Lucas and Ryder started out the door. Dylan and Claire followed but stopped and turned around. "Hey, Cassie. Maybe one of these days..." whatever they were about to say was stopped by Lucas yelling "Dylan, Claire, come on." The two ran after their older brothers without a second thought.

"I don't trust them," Jake stated after they were gone for a few minutes.

"Me either," both Faye and Cassie said at the same time, Faye glaring at Cassie furiously.

Melissa shook her head. "I don't know. The younger ones seem okay, although the older ones are horrible." They were silent for a while just looking at each other. "What do you think, Adam?" Melissa turned to look at where Adam was just a few minutes ago, but he wasn't there. The whole circle looked around trying to find the boy, but he was gone.

"What's up with Conant lately?" Jake asked. Cassie shook her head honestly not knowing. She hadn't been hanging around with Adam that much at all anymore.

"I don't know," Faye said making it sound like she didn't care but in her head she thought "But I'm going to find out."

"Well, now that that's over we better get back to your house before your mom starts to worry." Cassie told Faye.

"What did you tell her?" Faye asked, not wanting to be in trouble with her mom.

"Nothing, but I ran out of the house pretty fast." The two walked away arguing with each other again as they walked.

Melissa laughed and looked at Jake. "I think those two just like fighting with each other. Its what makes them friends." Then Melissa ran after them. "Wait up. Faye, Cassie. Could one of you give me a ride home." Melissa disappeared out the door leaving Jake by himself.

Jake stood there for a minute. He didn't like what had happened today. First the new Balcoins in town attacked Cassie, and then they had kidnapped Melissa. He knew in his gut they were up to something. He didn't trust them at all and at least he knew the other members of his Circle didn't either. He would remain on guard and figure out exactly what the thing his grandfather gave him did. He'd be ready for them next time they attacked and he knew they would. For now though Jake walked out of the abandoned house and went home.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"I love the Midwest." Diana observed lazily, snuggled next to Grant. "From the heat to the friendly people to the wide-open spaces…"

"I thought you might." Grant said. He kissed the back of her head gently.

Diana wanted to bask in the moment, capture it forever. Through the window a few streaks of sunshine, pinkish-yellow, reached for the sheets. The sun was setting. The little motel that they were in was practically in the middle of nowhere, but all the people were nice. Their car had broken down earlier, and before she knew it Diana was talking to a kind old lady who had pulled over and offered them some sandwiches that she had. Soon after a van pulled up, the family inside saying they had some leftover lemonade and burgers from a cookout. Within an hour there were nearly six cars, and a full-on party had started. Diana still remembered dancing to the car radio, turned up as high as it would go, barefoot and wild underneath the stars. Only when the sun rose had they actually gotten the car fixed and gone to find a place to stay.

"Are you thinking about something?" asked Grant lazily. Fingers traced up and down the expanse of her back, covered by a thin cotton top.

"Dreaming."

He laughed. "You can't dream without sleep, silly."

"I don't need sleep for dreams anymore." Diana said. She rolled over, leaning in to kiss him. "Do you?"

"Not right now, that's for sure."

Diana giggled, squealing when he flipped her over and playfully pinned her to the bed. "Hey, hey! Don't forget that the couple in the next room has two kids. I don't think they want to have to explain what all the banging is."

"We could say we were moving furniture."

Diana smiled at the way his face lit up, mischievous. "Grant…"

He kissed her forehead and settled back next to her. "I'm just teasing, Diana."

"Good." Diana squeezed his hand. "And it's not like they'll stay here forever."

"I hope not."

Diana eyes were beginning to flutter closed when she heard a phone buzzing. "Go get it." She ordered sleepily, whacking Grant with her hand in an effort to push him out of the bed.

"It's your phone." He complained. Diana opened one eye and saw he was covering his head with his pillow. "And it's loud."

It stopped as soon as her hand grasped it. "Baby."

He sat up, half-interested as he tried to see the caller ID. "Who was it?"

"I don't know." Diana stammered. The number was all too familiar, even though she's erased it from the contacts on her phone. "I think they're a voicemail. I'll be right back, okay?"

"Okay." Grant looked like he wanted to question her, but over the last three months he'd learned to trust her. Diana felt awful about that; she hadn't earned it.

Outside the warm air was giving way to a pleasantly cool breeze. Reveling in the feel of the dirt beneath her toes, Diana clicked on the voicemail and held her phone to her ear.

"D-Diana?" Cassie's voice sounded heartbroken, trembling as she spoke Diana's name. "It's… um… it's me. I guess you know that, because you didn't answer my call. Just please listen to what I have to say before you hang up on me, okay?"

Diana gulped, nodding though no one was there.

"The other Balcoin children came today. They kidnapped Melissa because they thought she was you—it's a long and unnecessary story—but she's okay, and so is everyone else. They… they wanted to know where Blackwell was, and they wanted the skull. It's fine. Adam hid it, and we're not going to tell them where it is. I think they're staying in town for a while. Ryder and Lucas, the two older ones, are the ones I don't trust. They're both nineteen. I think they dragged the other two into this mess through force. Claire and Dylan are only fourteen…"

There was a long pause. Diana could here Cassie's uneven breathing as it made a rasping noise in the phone's speaker.

"Also, I…. I was w-wondering…." Her voice cracked, sharply shooting up an octave. "Please come home, Diana, p-please. I know you probably hate me, and wish I had never called, but I need you. There's no one here that really understands what it feels like to… to…."

Diana was breathing heavily, tears of sympathy trailing down her cheeks and leaving mascara streaks.

"You had to have felt it, when Blackwell died. It scared me more than you can know. No, you do know. Jake says he understand how dark magic works, but it's only in theory. Adam… I can't be around him, I just can't. Faye brushes it aside as guilt when I try to t-tell her. Melissa is so good to me, Diana, but even she doesn't know. I just w-wish you would come back… please."

Her whole body was shaking as she sank to the ground. Her fingers clawed at the grass, pulling up chunks in an effort to stay connect to something. If she didn't hold on Diana feared she would be lost forever.

There was another long silence. Diana heard Cassie gasping, sobbing, and choking on tears. Diana could feel the same thing happening as sobs wracked her own body. Finally Cassie spoke again.

"I'm… I'm sorry. I mean, I can see why you would want to stay away. It's o-okay. If I keep telling myself that then maybe it will be. Just… I hope you're happy, and that you found what you were looking for." Pause. "So… goodbye, I guess. I love you no matter what you do."

The message ended; leaving Diana alone with her thoughts as she curled up, still clenching fistfuls of dirt and grass.

It had been wrong to abandon Cassie. Dian had known that from the start. It was just that the idea of being free for once, being able to make her own decisions and live her life had been too tempting. When she had helped kill Blackwell the feeling of power, of pure hatred that had coursed through her veins had been worse than when Cassie awakened her dark magic. It was then she had realized that given the right circumstance, she was a monster. Diana didn't want to hurt anybody; she never had. Blackwell was bad enough, and it had to stop there.

Going back would be unbearable. Both of her fathers were dead. Her mother was gone. Social Services might cart her away and lock her up in a home for girls. Worst of all, Cassie would be there, and if Cassie was there then her dark magic might resurface. Diana hated that she had to stay away from one of the best friends but she'd had to keep the monster at bay.

She imagined what people would say when she came back. She imagined facing the Circle looking like she did now. Skin tanned, hair streaked with a few sun-bleached highlights, clothes much freer and more colorful. Her hair was always braided intricately, with bits of ribbon, cloth, beads, yarn, and feathers. Diana could still remember the little girl that had showed her how to do so many braids, saying, "You're pretty, but you don't let people see. Inside you're beautiful and bright, like a rainbow." Ever since then her hair had been adorns with all the colors of the rainbow.

They would all sit there, in their drab grays and browns and blacks, skin pale from the lack of sun in Washington. Faye did occasionally wear red, and she and Melissa both had darker skin, but it still wasn't the same. They had always been in Chance Harbor. Diana had seen what was outside, and she wasn't sure if Chance Harbor could be home now that she had.

But she had to go back. Diana knew that, even if it was hard. She had known that going back would be inevitable. Cassie had helped her when she was alone and now Cassie was the one that was hurting. Diana couldn't just leave her. Cassie might have been strong, but Diana knew from experience that even the strongest people could break like porcelain.

"I hope you're happy, and that you found what you were looking for." The word echoed in Diana's ears. She had found that she liked places that were warm, that gas station Chinese food was practically lethal, that Grant snored when he slept, and that she was bright and beautiful inside. Diana hoped that maybe the part of her that loved and wanted to be loved was stronger than the evil. Even if it wasn't, she knew who she was now. She was Diana Meade. She was an orphan. She had been broken countless times. She was often called on for help and got nothing in return. Despite this she kept getting up every time they kicked her and brought her down. She was a mosaic, a myriad of glass, sunlight flashing over the sorrow, joy, hope, pain loss, fear, and love.

Diana wiped her eyes and headed back inside. She felt horrible unprepared for what she had to do and guilty that she hadn't done it a long time ago, but she kept moving. Grant looked up, concern written all over his face. "Are you alright?"

"I think I will be." Diana said. Her voice was steady. "Look, Grant, I have to go back."

"Back where?" he blinked, clearly half-awake. She'd been gone a while.

She sighed. "Chance Harbor. I know I said I wanted to come with you, and it's helped me see a lot of things I didn't before. I know that my friends need me. My sister needs me."

Diana waited for the angry outburst, or a demand to know what had caused this change of heart. Instead Grant looked relieved. "Thank goodness."

"What?" under different circumstance Diana would have felt insulted. As it was, she wasn't too happy about what was going on.

"My boss texted me a few days ago. He wants me back on the boat, and I was trying to find a way to tell you without hurting your feelings." Grant explained. "I was thinking that maybe you could come too, but you wouldn't like working on a boat."

"It's fine." Relief flooded her chest. "That's perfectly fine. It's better if we both just go back to what we were doing before."

He nodded. "I'll take you back tomorrow. Do you… do you ever want to see me again?"

"Of course!" Diana said, giving him a quick peck on the lips. "Don't be silly. I just have some things I need to fix, but you can always visit. When I graduate maybe we can continue this trip, huh?"

"I like it." He approved. An arm snaked around her waits and pulled her into bed. "But for now we should sleep."

"Give me one minute? I have to call someone."

Once Diana was back outside she dialed Cassie's number. There was no answer, forcing her to leave a message:

"I'm sorry, I should have answered. I know I was scared before, but I think that maybe I've figured some things out. I know that inside me dwells a monster that seems uncontrollable, but there's a lot more than that. I know who I am and I'm coming home."


	2. Forgiveness

**Plotline writers – Forcystus5, xleamalfoyx, Coralinas, thefallenloveoflife,**

**Writers – Coralinas, Forcystus5, CharmedMilliE, ilove2dance, luisa Mendoza, thefallenloveoflife, witch-witha-B, TtylerMaria**

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**Disclaimer: We don't own The Secret Circle.**

Episode 2 – "Forgiveness"

Cassie smoothed out the wrinkles in the bed one last time; she wanted to make the room look as if she was never there. It was partly because she wanted to be a considerate guest, and partly so Faye would be angry with her. Grabbing her bags she walked down to the front door, leaving them for a minute to search for Faye.

"Yes, defiantly get the Cheddar Ruffles, lots of them. Oooh and Hot Cheetos's!" Faye was on the phone when Cassie found her.

"Uhm… Faye?" She asked quietly not wanting to disturb her phone call, but Faye just waved her hand at Cassie. She would have backed off, but she could tell this conversation was going to go on for a bit so she tried again. "Faye I'm headed home, but I wanted to know if you and Melissa wanted to come over later for movies…?" She asked hopefully, she really could use a girl's night.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Hold on Melissa," She said putting her hand over the mouth piece of the phone, "Cassie! Rude much? I'm on the phone." Irritation oozed from her words.  
"Okay… Bye." Cassie knew Faye probably hadn't even heard her.

Cassie opened the door to her house and put her bag down on the floor. Staying at Faye's house for the night had been strange, but nice at the same time. She realized how much she missed other people being in the house with her. It got lonely being alone, but as Cassie looked around she knew it felt good to be back. Hopefully she would have no more Balcoin problems because of the truce. A part of Cassie knew that probably wouldn't last long.

Cassie went to the kitchen and took a pop tart out of the box on the counter. It took Cassie a minute to realize she hadn't left them there, but her muscles tense the instant she realized it. She slowly walked towards the living room and then thought she saw something move a little from the couch. Reaching into the hall closet quickly she grabbed a baseball bat her grandma had kept there for some reason. She knew magic was her most powerful weapon, but if it was a Balcoin sibling in the living room a little physical power would be helpful.

Cassie slowly walked into the living room bat held out in front of her. She turned to the couch with the bat in her hand, but when she saw who it was she froze. The bat stayed in her hand but was shaking as Cassie herself was. Her mouth dropped open. There was a Balcoin in her house, but it was the one she'd wanted back more than anything; Diana.

Diana opened her eyes to see Cassie bat in hand pointing at her. "Hi," Diana said, looking at her. "Ummm… are you going to hit me or something?" Bat fell to the floor as Diana talked.

"P-p-please tell me this isn't a dream. If it's a dream and I wa-wak-wake up at Faye's..." Cassie couldn't continue to talk as she just started to cry. She fell to her knees, sobs wracking her misery-worn frame.

Diana jumped up from her spot on the couch and pulled her into an embrace. "It's not a dream. I swear. I'm here." Diana said rubbing Cassie's back. It hurt Diana to see her sister in so much emotional pain and to know that she was the one who caused it. "I left a message saying I..." Diana found she was crying too. "I was coming home. Didn't you get it?" Diana felt Cassie shake her head. "I'm so sorry."

The two stayed on the floor for what seemed like forever, Diana stroking Cassie's hair and crying while Cassie gasped for air. Eventually her breathing slowed, prompting Diana to help her onto the couch. Diana said, "I had Grant drop me off here in the middle of the night. No one was home so I let myself in to wait and guess I fell asleep."

"I was at Faye's house," Cassie told Diana, wishing she had been home when Diana had gotten there.

"Why?" Diana asked, confused. As far as Diana knew Cassie and Faye had a weird sort of friendship. Half the time it seemed like Faye hated Cassie and the other half it seemed like they were friends. There was no logical reason for Cassie to be there.

"It was safer there, and besides, Ms. Chamberlain is technically my legal guardian."

Diana stared at Cassie. "How did that happen?"

"After you left social services came for me. Dawn was the one who came to my rescue. She fought to be my guardian. I still live here, but have to check in with Dawn regularly." Cassie looked at Diana. "Are... are... y-you…" Cassie couldn't finish what she was saying. Just thinking about her question made her want to cry again, but Diana didn't understand what she was going to ask. Finally she asked, "Are you going to leave me again?" in one breath.

"No," Diana said and hugged her sister again. "I won't leave you again. At least not like that. If we're ever separated again for a long time I'll make sure to call and keep in touch with you. I'll always come back to you. I promise." Tears were starting to form in Diana's eyes, but she wouldn't let them fall. There had already been too much crying and this was supposed to be a happy moment. "Please say you forgive me." She didn't know what she would do if Cassie said no.

"You're my sister. You're the only family I have left. Of course I forgive you." Cassie smiled at Diana who smiled back. They both knew they had some work to do in their relationship. Diana had left Cassie and Cassie was still hurt over that, but the most important thing was that Diana had come back. They were sisters. They could work anything out. The two sat in silence for a while just enjoying each other company.

"What was with the bat?" Diana finally asked. It had been kind of weird to see a powerful witch looming over her with a baseball bat.

"Both Melissa and I were attacked in our houses by witches just as powerful as me. A little extra protection besides magic seemed to have been a good idea when I thought someone had invaded my house."

"Oh." Diana didn't ask any more questions. She wanted to know all the details about what happened with their other siblings, but now wasn't the right time to ask. Right then she only wanted to enjoy being back.

"You have nowhere to go," Cassie said and Diana looked now. "You can live here." It was a fast offer that made Diana look at her. "I get lonely sometimes. It's a big house and I'm on my own." Diana had a feeling Cassie wouldn't have said this to anyone else but her.

"Thank you Cassie, but..." Diana felt awful about what she was going to say the moment Cassie's face fell. "I don't think we're ready to be living together. We have issues we need to work out and I don't think we should be under the same roof for that. I will be around a lot though. Nothing could keep me away."

Cassie nodded understanding Diana's reasons. "Stay with me until you find somewhere else to live, then."

Diana smiled. "That I can do."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Adam smiled at the petite red head as he handed her, her meal, and winked as he handed her father's dish to him. Adam really had become the little flirt over the summer. In the past he always had an obvious option—Diana or Cassie—but lately it was like he'd never even known them. Sure, Diana was still gorgeous and Cassie was still amazing, but he had to move on. He'd successfully put Cassie in his past before, but as he felt his power getting stronger, he also felt it overcoming the power of the potion. It was weird to have all his old feelings coming back, and to see her that way again, but he had to hide those feelings and move on, curse or not. Too much drama was going on to add dating to the mix. So a little harmless flirting wouldn't hurt would it?

"Thanks." The redhead said with a sweet smile.

"No problem." He said tipping his head at her, then turning to leave, he caught Faye and Melissa sitting down in his section out of the corner of his eye. Sighing, he walked over.

"How can I help you two?" He asked

"We'll have the usual, which includes you sitting down and stealing fries." Faye said to him, making him feel a bit uneasy. He had his guard up around Faye lately because she was the only one who knew he was hiding something. Truth be told he didn't think what he was doing was all that bad, but given what was going on with the Circle, he knew no one would understand. All he had to do was bide his time until he could convince them and make them understand.

"I'll be back in a bit then." He said smiling and heading to the kitchen

When Adam returned the girls had settled down into the booth and were gossiping.

"Yeah, I saw Erin Long yesterday, finally back from whatever trip she went on, sporting a tan and too many hickeys to cover." Faye was relaying to Melissa

"That's gross, but I guess that's Erin." She said. Adam put their plates down and Melissa turned and smiled at him.

"I always thought Erin was nice."

"She's never tried to get in your pants." Faye said, Adam just shrugged

"Speaking of Adam's pants," Faye continued, "What exactly are you hiding from us, Conant?"

"Faye!" Melissa yelped.

"Speaking of my pants? You really want to know what's in them?" He asked, knowing full well that wasn't what Faye had meant. She just wanted an excuse to grill him again.

"Adam, don't play dumb. You've been jumpy, secretive, quiet, and weird lately. I want to know what's up."

"I'm sure nothing is up Faye." Melissa started in his defense

"Shush, Melissa." Faye said holding her hand up.

"I promise, Faye, I'm not hiding anything." Adam said, a warning tone in his voice.

"No, I'm sure there's something."

"Back off, Faye." Melissa cut in

"Yes Faye, back off." He was even more upset now.

"Not until you tell me wha-"She stopped suddenly as she noticed the two sodas on the table were boiling.

"Adam, what are you doing?" Melissa asked voice full of concern.

"I asked her to back off, she didn't, gotta get my point across somehow don't I?" He asked as the boiling began to get more violent, and a light bulb shattered overhead.

"Adam!" Melissa shrieked, the look of sheer terror in her face brought Adam back.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry… I don't know what's wrong with me… I gotta go." And with that he bolted out of the boathouse. The girls exchanged a glance before getting up and leaving themselves.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"So tell me about your summer. You haven't said one thing about it, but here you are, this gorgeous sun goddess, tanned with colors braided in her hair." Cassie said, spreading a sheet over the bed in the guest bedroom. Diana leaned over to help spread the sheets out and pat out all the wrinkles.

"There's so much to tell I don't even know where to start. We drove all over, through Idaho and Wyoming, spent a few days in Nebraska, and then spent almost a month in Chicago. We'd somewhat run out of money, and this nice guy was willing to take us in and give us a job. After Chicago I decided I wanted to spend some time in New Mexico, so on our way there we spent some time in every state we drove through, a few days in each state. I think Texas was most memorable." Diana started her story and was about to continue when Cassie interrupted.

"This is all very nice, but you aren't telling me anything about Grant. I find him more important than which states you drove through. Stories, Di, stories!" Cassie commanded, making Diana laugh.

Shaking her head, Diana sighed. Which stories would be best to tell? "Fine, fine. When we drove through Tennessee, there was this place called Cotton Eyed Joe, and since I was so hungry and it was the first place we'd passed in miles I suggested we go there. It was a country dance place, and oh my god it was so fun. We danced the night away. At one point I was up there dancing to an old Hank Williams Jr. song when Grant came up and placed a cowboy hat on my head, tipped his own hat and said 'Do you want to dance, pretty lady?' in this weird Australian country twang that was so adorable I couldn't help but giggle at him." Diana laughed slightly at the memory, Cassie smiled too, and she could picture Diana having a footloose moment and loved how it looked in her head.

"Later that night I saw a mechanical bull and wanted so badly to try it, but Grant was so worried I'd get hurt. He ran over to the operator and pointed me out to him, saying 'That girl there is the sweetest, most beautiful girl you'll ever meet, and I love the way her face looks right now. She's determined to get on this bull, but I don't want her to get hurt. You think you could help us find a middle ground?' And a $20 tip later, I was up on that bull, holding on as it went around and around, not too rough, but not too slow. It still bucked me around but it never threw me. Grant just watched with this huge smile on his face as I laughed and hooted having the time of my life." Her voice as she told the story was so alive, and so much happier than Cassie had ever heard her.

"So are you two still seeing each other?"

"When he gets back to town, we promised to see each other, but nothing too serious until high school is over. We'll be writing letters, but I feel like it's for the best."

"I'm glad you had such an amazing time."

"Me too, I feel like I really found myself this summer." The two smiled at each other and then continued making the bed.

"So did you two… you know…?" Cassie asked with a goofy grin and a seductive wink, before bursting out laughing. Diana giggled along with her.

"A _lady _would never tell."

"Good thing you're a wild, country-dancing, bull-riding young woman, then."

"Alright! I guess you got me there." Diana said, laughing again

"So, spill it!"

"Cassie, I slept in the same bed as him for three months. Of course stuff happened!"

Cassie jokingly gasped

"My, my, Diana and a boy! A hot foreign boy, oh la, la."

"Shut up" Diana said, slapping Cassie's shoulder. Suddenly she realized something. "Cassie, no one else knows I'm back! We need to call them."

"What if we surprised them?" Cassie suggested.

"What do you mean?"

Cassie shrugged. "I could text everyone and say we needed to have a meeting, then you could come with me and surprise them!"

"I don't know, it seems mean not tot tell them…" Diana trailed off. She knew if Cassie had disappeared fro months and came back unexpectedly she would want to know the moment Cassie stepped foot in Chance Harbor.

"They'll be happy to see you, and it could be fun." Cassie said. "Please?"

"I guess we could—"

"Great!" Cassie picked up her phone and sent out a quick message.

_Urgent meeting at the abandoned house, I have some big news that I'm sure you'll all love._

And Cassie hit send.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

The sound of the phone buzzing had woken Jake. He was half lying on his bed and half off it. In his right hand was his grandfather's vial. He had fallen asleep looking at the stuff. Jake quickly went to make sure it was okay hoping that in his sleep he hadn't accidentally broken it. The vial was fine, though, and Jake smiled. He had to make sure he put it away before falling asleep.

Jake barely remembered that his phone had woken him up. He in fact almost left the room without checking and then remembered the buzzing. He almost felt like ignoring it, but then thought it might be important. Picking up the phone he saw the text was from Cassie. He opened it and then read what it said. "A meeting, now?" Jake said out loud, finding it strange, but decided not to question it.

Jake first made sure he hid the vial away and then headed for the door. He wondered where Faye was and then thought he might check to see if she needed a ride. Jake discarded the idea though figuring he could just talk to Faye at the meeting.

Adam was sitting at the beach taking deep breaths. He was trying to calm down after what had happened with Faye and Melissa. He then heard his cell phone buzzing signaling he had a message. He looked at the text and then shook his head worried.

The text stated that Cassie was calling a Circle meeting. Adam did not want to go. He thought that the meeting might be about him, about how strange he had been acting lately. The thought caused Adam to get even more nervous then he already was. He didn't want to go, but he figured that not going would look more suspicious than being there. He decided to go, but to escape at the first moment he could.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Another Circle meeting, really? How much you want to bet it's more family drama?" Faye asked, putting her phone back down and finishing painting her nails.

"Does it matter?"

"No, I guess not, we've had a pretty boring day anyways," she responded, blowing slightly on her nails.

"Besides, it could be about something else entirely."

"Hey! You know what? Adam won't be able to escape with the rest of the Circle there." Faye said, a smile growing on her face as Melissa groaned.

"No, Faye, just leave him alone!"

"You saw what he did at the boathouse! He's hiding something!"

"He's stressed and you keep battering him."

"He boiled our drinks and shattered lights."

"You know Faye? You should probably just focus on Jake. You're hiding from your own problems by focusing on Adam." Faye narrowed her eyes at Melissa, but thought about it.

"I guess you're somewhat right. Well let's get going then. Cassie probably saw a shadow and thought it was John's ghost or something" Faye said with a small smirk before the two girls headed out.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye, Melissa, Jake, and Adam all got to the abandoned house at the same time. "Adam, what have..." Melissa stopped Faye before she could continue questioning Adam.

"Any idea why Cassie called this meeting?' Melissa asked. When Jake and Adam shook their heads everyone looked at Faye.

"Why are you looking at me?" Faye asked. It wasn't like she could read Cassie's mind, even if the girl was predictable.

"She slept over your house last night," Melissa reminded Faye. "You were the last one of us who actually saw her. You actually see her a lot more than any of us." Faye mumbled something under her breath. It was true. Faye did see Cassie the most in the Circle. She hurried into the house followed by the other three members of her Circle.

When they got into the house they saw Cassie standing in the middle of the room. They all stood in front of her facing her. "Spill. Why did the princess of darkness call us all here?" Faye asked.

"Yeah, I have to..." Adam paused looking for the right words. "I have things to do." It might have not been his best excuse, but it was all he could think of telling the group.

Faye gave Adam a look. "What things—?" she was cut off as Melissa hit her arm, glaring. Faye returned the look with her best 'bitch stare' until Melissa glanced away huffily.

"I'm not sure what's going on with you guys, but this is more interesting, I promise." Cassie said interrupting, Melissa and Faye's stare down and causing everyone to pay attention to her. "When I got home from Faye's today one of my Balcoin siblings was waiting for me."

"What!" Jake said, practically radiating anger. "I knew that truce was complete bull. Not even twenty-four hours and already they're breaking it. I'm going to kill them. Was it that Lucas guy? I did not like him? Or Ryder for that matter. Did the Balcoin sibling, whoever it was, hurt you?"

"Why would I hurt my sister?" Everyone knew the voice that was behind them. They had grown up with it, but they wouldn't let themselves believe they had heard it. They had all come to think they would never hear that voice again. Cassie couldn't keep a straight face anymore as she saw everyone faces, bursting into laughter.

Diana, who had been hiding out of sight until Jake's little rant, also laughed as they turned around. When Cassie had mentioned playing a trick on their Circle Diana hadn't really wanted to. She had thought it would be mean. Now that she saw their faces she had to agree it was one of the best things the two had ever done together.

Faye and Melissa got over their shock first and ran right to their lost friend. They nearly knocked Diana over with the force of their hug. "Oh my god, Diana, you're back!" Melissa nearly shouted as she continued to hug her friend.

"Everyone missed you Diana. Yes, even me." Faye said.

"Guys, I missed you too, but I do need to breathe." Diana told the two. They backed away with big smiles on their faces.

Diana turned to Adam. There was a time when she and Adam would have rushed right into each other's arms, but that time was long pass. The two hadn't been together for such a long time that even the lingering memories didn't hurt. Diana's mind was full of images of Grant, and they made her happy.

Adam smiled nervously. "Good to have you back. Unfortunately, I have to get back to work."

"Don't boil anymore drinks," Faye yelled after him. "It's not good for keeping customers."

"Stop it, Faye. Leave Adam alone." Melissa whispered.

Diana was staring at where Adam had just been. There had been something weird about their reunion. She knew Adam had long since been over her, but she had expected some show of emotions. Some happiness. "Is something going on with him?" She looked around at her Circle, but all she got were 'I don't knows' and head shakes. Oh well. It couldn't be that important if no one in the Circle knew what was going on. "So what about you, Jake? Are you happy to see me or am I just an evil Balcoin?"

Jake laughed and went to give Diana a hug. "It's good to have you back and this is perfect timing. With you back we have a full circle again and our two strongest members together. We'll be ready for when your siblings strike again and I'll find out what my grandfather's vial does so we'll be sure to win."

"Vial?" a very confused Diana asked.

"It's... well... a long story." Cassie said. "We'll catch you up later."

"Wait, I just realized something." Faye said. "Our end of the year sleepover tonight at Cassie's can now also be our celebration for Diana's return."

"Yeah, that sounds great—" Cassie said, pausing. "Hold on…. since when is the sleepover taking place at my house? I was never told about this."

"Melissa and I decided it this morning on the phone while you rudely interrupting." Faye explained.

"I thought you told her," Melissa said, not believing her friend would just plan a sleepover at someone else's house. Of course, it was very Faye-like.

"Well, Cassie's is the only place with absolutely no parental supervision tonight. Are you seriously going to complain?" Faye asked, and Cassie shook her head. She didn't care that they were planning a sleepover at her house, but she would have liked some ahead warning first. If Diana hadn't returned she probably wouldn't have known about it until Melissa and Faye showed up at her house. "And now we have everyone together to celebrate. Well, no boys allowed, but we have all the girls."

A small smile came over Jake's face as he felt relief over Faye's statement. He had been afraid she would ask him to come, when he really wanted to try emailing his Grandpa about the vial… if he could only find his Grandpa's email address. "Of course not. You girls have fun tonight. I'll see you in the morning." He left quickly before he could be persuaded to stay.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Did he seem at all upset to you guys that he wasn't allowed to come?" Faye asked the other girls.

"Not at all. Why?" Diana said, before Cassie or Melissa could stop her. The two knew that getting involved in Faye and Jake's personal problems was probably not the best idea.

"You'd think he be a little upset that he can't spend the night celebrating with his girlfriend." Faye said getting angry and with her anger the chair Melissa had been a captive in the night before flew across the room causing the other three girls to duck to avoid getting hit.

"They're officially a couple now?" Diana asked. She glanced at Melissa and Cassie, who nodded. "Damn, I have a lot to be caught up on."

Faye and Melissa had just arrived at Cassie's house letting themselves in the door with magic. They put their overnight bags down in the living room and went to find the Balcoin sisters. It wasn't hard considering the two were sitting in the kitchen eating newly ordered pizza out of the box. "You started the party without us?" Faye asked, causing the two sisters two jump. They had not heard their friends come in.

"You know, I do have a doorbell," Cassie said. "It works. The pizza delivery guy just used it."

"Did Diana kiss the pizza boy again?" Melissa asked, taking a slice causing Diana to look away in embarrassment and Cassie to look at them questionably.

"When did this happen?" Cassie asked looking at her sister.

"Valentines day sleepover. Don't you remember? That's who she was kissing right before you showed up." Melissa asked.

"Oh, right." Cassie said. "And no, she didn't."

"Cassie and I were just deciding what movies to watch tonight," Diana said, desperately wanting to change the topic. "I want to watch a romance movie, but Cassie seems to think we should watch the first two 'Men in Black' movies."

"I think I'll take aliens over romance," Faye said. The last thing she wanted to do was watch to love-stricken teens salivate on each other's faces for an entire movie. From Melissa's expression she knew that they were on the same page. "I think we all know why you want to watch a love movie though. You never did tell us about your trip. How was it?"

Faye and Melissa turned to Diana curious since they hadn't heard about Diana's trip yet. "It was amazing. This country is beautiful. The places I've seen. Chicago, Mt. Rushmore, San Francisco..."

"That's nice," Faye said cutting Diana off. "But when I asked 'how was it?' I actually meant 'how was he?'"

Diana laughed. "He was... well... amazing, but I don't really want to talk about Grant right now. We kind of agreed until he gets back we're on a break of sorts, but seriously, this country is beautiful. You guys should get out of Chance Harbor and explore it."

"We should," Melissa said suddenly coming up with an idea. "After we all graduate we should go." They all looked at her confused. "The six of us. The entire circle out on a road trip together. Exploring the country. It could be fun."

"Actually it could be," Faye said. "Six powerful witches together, exploring the country. Think of all the fun things we can do across America. We'd have a blast."

"Yeah sounds like it could be fun. That is if we can convince the Balcoins not to do anything awful while we're gone." Cassie reminded the group.

"Way to ruin the moment," Faye said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh yeah, you guys have to catch me up on what's been happening here. I want to hear all about my evil Balcoin siblings." Diana took a bite of her pizza waiting for the group to start, explaining how they'd had a meeting after Cassie was attacked the first time when Faye interrupted.

"Yeah, at this meeting your sister sat there, eating my left over pasta," Faye complained..

Cassie looked at Faye shocked. "Oh my god, are you still going on about that?"

"They were my leftovers." Faye said.

"My guardian gave them to me. You want to see all the other leftovers my guardian, also known as your mother, has given to me, they're in the refrigerator." Cassie just loved the look that Faye got when Cassie reminded Faye that Dawn was her guardian. It was really funny and Cassie had to stop herself from laughing. She didn't want to lose this argument because she laughed.

Diana got closer to Melissa. "Is this normal?" Melissa nodded her head.

"Guys, pasta is not important. Just keep telling me what I missed, please?"Diana asked.

After a few heated glances Faye and Cassie stopped, and they explained how the Balcoins had mistaken Melissa for Diana, and how they'd made a truce.

"Okay, pizza's done, Diana is up to date, I think we have a party to continue with and I believe a movie was mentioned."

"Yeah, it's in my room. I'll go get changed into my pajamas and be back down with it in a minute." Cassie told them. "You should all get changed too." Cassie ran up the stairs and the other three got changed into their pajamas.

Faye looked at the other two. "You think Cassie's grandma kept any alcohol in the house?" Diana and Melissa looked at each other not knowing. "Well how about we find out? This won't be a real party without something to drink." The three girls split up to search the house.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Upstairs, Cassie had just gotten change and was looking in her room for the movies. She knew she had them somewhere. Hers and hers mom's DVD collection had been one of the only things to survive the fire and the two had collected a lot of DVDs. One of the things Cassie and Amelia did together almost every week was make popcorn and watch a movie or two. Cassie had brought the DVDs with her to Chance Harbor when she had moved here, but had never unpacked it. With all the witch stuff going on she had never really gotten the chance to watch a movie until tonight.

Cassie found the boxes with the movies in them in her closest. It took a while going through all the movies before she found what she was looking for. The first two 'Men in Black' movies. After finding it Cassie was ready to go back to her friends, but when she turned around she saw Jake in his bedroom. He was sitting at his computer researching something. She could barely see the vial on the desk near him. Cassie found it comforting that Jake was so serious in finding a way to protect them. It was sweet and nice, but she realized there was a pretty good chance of this coming between Jake and Faye. It could ruin their relationship. Cassie did _not_ want to have to deal with a newly-dumped Faye.

Cassie tapped on her window to get Jake's attention, but he didn't seem to notice. Using her powers she opened up his window causing the boy to jump up alert. Realizing it was only Cassie he calmed down and gave her a look that clearly said 'what?' Cassie held up the movies so Jake could see the tittles and made a motion with her hand saying to come over. Cassie thought it would be sweet if he surprised Faye, especially after Faye getting upset when Jake was happy he didn't have to come. Jake shook his head. He went to shut the window and then closed the blinds.

Oh well, she had tried. If Jake wanted to ruin his relationship with Faye over his grandfather's vial, then so be it. Right now she had company over. Tonight in this house she would not be alone and that thought made her happy.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Adam paced back and forth on the sand, biting his lip nervously. He could _feel_ the power coming from that mound in the sand, the skull. Ever since he'd hidden it there and lied about having it the thing had been pulsing with power. Adam desperately wished that it would just stop. At first it had lured him in, but now it was just scaring him.

Reaching forward he brushed aside some sand and pebbles. Washington beaches were rockier than the ones he had gone to, hoping that maybe he could leave the skull there. Of course, the pull had been too strong and he'd brought it home with him.

Bit by bit the top of it showed, glistening in the light from the setting sun. Adam could already see the energy inside swirling, making him gulp nervously. The skull wanted to be out of the confines of the sand, he could feel it. Maybe if he got it out then it would stop haunting him.

Adam focused on anything besides the skull, thinking instead of Diana. She was back, and she knew him the best out of everyone in the Circle, besides maybe Melissa. The thought made him smile. He'd been friends with Melissa since the hair-pulling stage. Not that Adam had ever pulled anyone's hair; it'd always been Faye who teased Melissa. He'd never understood how that had made Melissa and Faye friends, but he accepted it.

The skull was finally unburied. Adam lifted it in his hands, cradling it gently like it was a real person's face and not a mass of crystal. The skull began to pulse, throbbing with uncontrolled energy.

Very suddenly Adam wasn't afraid anymore, but entranced as he'd been when he first had the skull to himself. He could feel the energy course through the skull to his fingers, from his fingers to his arms, to his chest, to his entire body, until it felt like his veins were full of fizzing water. It felt like he could do anything he wanted to. An army of a thousand could attack him and he would live.

That though led to worse ones. Not only could he attack an entire army, he could destroy a town. He could blow Chance Harbor sky-high if he wanted. Another few breathless seconds and he could take out all of Washington State, or the entire west coast. After a minute he was sure he had enough magic in him to decimate the continent.

The idea beckoned him forward, urging him in seductive whisper to do it. It would be so easy…

Adam jerked roughly, flinging the skull to the ground. What was he thinking? He couldn't destroy that many people, it wasn't right! There was no point to it, no purpose. Shaken, Adam realized why Cassie and Diana both were hesitant when it came to dark magic. He doubted they want to destroy the world, but…

He shuddered, and pelted down the shore back to the Boathouse.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Drinks!" Faye proclaimed happily as Cassie re-entered the living room. Diana, Melissa, and Faye had already spread their sleeping bags out on the floor and were all drinking. Cassie's eyes widened at the bottle of wine on the table.

"What, Blake, didn't think your Grandma had it in her?" Faye asked. Cassie glared. "Sorry, sorry." For once Faye actually looked contrite. "Look, just get over here and grab a glass."

Diana laughed. "Whatever this is, it's strong."

"No. You're just a lightweight." Faye said, though she was feeling a bit lightheaded herself.

Melissa was curled up in her sleeping bag, propped up by her elbows so she could drink. "Mmmm… I think Diana's right, Faye. We should have put something else in this, like soda."

"It's fine." Faye handed Cassie a glass. "Here, have some. It's not like anyone is driving tonight."

Cassie took a cautious sip and winced at the acidity. "Wow."

"It _is_ strong." Diana said. "See? I told you it was, Faye."

"Yes, you did, Lady Di." Faye teased, using Diana's childhood nickname. It made the girl in question grin and blush. "Five times."

Diana ignored Faye's jibe. "So, what movie?"

"Well, I have these," Cassie held out all the Men in Black DVDs, "And I brought down 'Music and Lyrics' and 'Nancy Drew' in case you want a sort-of romantic movie with a lot of other stuff that happens besides romance."

Faye snorted. "They're only making you think that, but both those movies are all about romance." She leaned back, despondently sipping her drink. "Why is it that in every damn romance or romantic comedy the guys are always drooling after the girls and Jake won't even look at me?"

Melissa sighed. "Faye…."

"All he cares about is that sand!" Faye snapped.

"Fayeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…" Diana half-sang, half-said. Based on the amount of time she'd been gone and the amount of alcohol Diana had drunk since Cassie had comes downstairs, Cassie could assume she was already on her fourth glass. Drunk Diana seemed a little too hyper, just like Devil's Spirit Diana. Cassie remembered those days all too well.

Faye groaned, brushing hair out of her eyes. "Do I smell funny? Is that it?"

Cassie leaned over, sniffing her in an exaggerated fashion and then jumping away like she'd been shot. "You smell like a sewer!"

"Jerk!" Faye countered lamely, glaring. "I do not."

"You smell fine, Faye." Melissa said.

"Then what is it? Am I ugly?"

"No, Faye." Said Melissa.

"Fat?"

"No."

"Clingy?"

Cassie was about to comment, but Melissa cut in with a, "No, Faye, you're not."

"Am I not special enough? Does he think I'm boring?" Faye continued, starting to look like she was actually considering one of the aforementioned options. "What if it's a combination of everything? What if he doesn't like me because I'm hideous and fat and I smother him?"

Diana moved closer to Faye, almost tripping over the coffee table in her haste. "You're not any of those things. You're fit, really, really fit. I mean, you do take dance lessons almost everyday—"

"Diana!" Faye yelped.

"Sorry." Diana said.

"Dance lessons?" Cassie asked.

"Ballet." Faye explained grudgingly. "I started when I was little, and I guess it just… works. It makes sense to me. And no, I don't wear a pink tutu and tiara, so don't get any funny ideas."

"But that keeps you in such good shape, and you're not clingy either." Diana continued. "Look at you Faye, you're beautiful."

"Diana's right." Melissa agreed. "Jake just hates the Balcoins. He wants to find a way to stop them, and he thinks the vial is the answer."

"Yeah," Diana agreed, smiling widely. "Even if he thinks you're not important anymore, I do." She leaned forward, giving Faye a quick and affectionate kiss. She squeezed Faye's hand. "I'm still here, aren't I?"

"You are." Faye said. She smiled. "You're really drunk, but you're here."

"So it's settled?" Melissa asked. "Jake is an idiot, like all those of the male species?"

"Yes!" Diana jumped up, dragging Faye with her. "Now we need pizza! C'mon!"

Cassie laughed at the sight of Faye being forced from the room. It was wonderful, just basking in the kindness and love and acceptance. Ever since Diana had come back she'd felt like she was really part of the Circle again.

Diana bounded back in the room, a smile lighting her face as she ate a slice of veggie pizza. Cassie absolutely loved how she made the silliest faces when she was eating. "What now?" Diana asked.

"How about we just hang out?" Faye said. She gave Diana a one-armed hug. "We don't need a movie to have fun when we're all together."

For once Cassie actually agreed with Faye.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Adam skidded into the back room of the Boathouse, panting. Maybe he had imagined that feeling of power. Maybe it was late and he was too sleep-deprived. Maybe he was dehydrated.

Adam's solution to that was to grab a bottle of wine since his dad wasn't home. He knew it wouldn't help hydrate him, but he just wanted the feeling of power that was still in his veins to be blurred by the alcohol.

A couple quick gulps and he let the soft, fuzzy feeling invade his mind. It was comforting, sitting there and contemplating the way the lights danced on the bottle, tiny little flames…

The bottle shattered in his grasp, red trails trickling down his arms. To his horror he realized that the dancing lights he'd seen were flames, and that they were devouring one of his dad's bookcases.

"What the hell?" He asked the air, quickly backing away, suddenly he remembered a similar situation, and the thought the spell he'd used before: _No air for fire._

The flames subsided for a minute, only to come back with twice as much force and heat. Adam stumbled, brushing against a stack of papers that disintegrated a second later. Terror-stricken, he raced from the building.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie was fast asleep in her own little dream world. In her dream it was dark. There was nothing else there to brush against her sense, and it made Cassie feel safe. If no one could see her then no one could hurt her.

Suddenly she heard screaming. There had never been screaming in this dream before she'd had it a million times, It only took a moment before Cassie realized that the screaming was Diana.

The thought had caused Cassie to wake up from her dream. She jumped up, but she heard no screaming. Everyone was peaceful. She looked over at Faye who was halfway hanging off her couch and Melissa who was curled up on a chair. Cassie had somehow fallen asleep on the floor. She looked around for Diana desperately. In her panic to make sure Diana was okay she had forgotten where Diana had fallen asleep. That was really stupid since Diana was on the floor not too far from her.

Cassie let out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding when she saw Diana was okay, glad the screaming hadn't been real. Suddenly Cassie heard a soft moan, and noticed how Diana was sweating and clutching at her sleeping bag like it was suffocating her. She stumbled over and shook Diana.

"Diana, wake up, Diana," Cassie said, getting no response. She threw a pillow at Faye's head to wake the sleeping girl up. Faye jumped up and was about to say something but Cassie stopped her. "Faye, Diana having a nightmare. I can't wake her up. Help."

Faye jumped into action, whacking Melissa's arm with her foot as she ran over. Soon Melissa was up too, and the three girls bent over Diana, shaking her shoulders and begging her to wake up. After a minute she woke up with a start, screaming and flailing her arms wildly.

"Diana, calm, it was just a dream." Cassie held Diana in her arms, scared by the terror in Diana's eyes.

"What was that dream about?" Melissa asked as Diana finally started to calm down.

"A shadowy figure, I couldn't see who it was, was chasing me into a burning building. I was so scared and screamed, but no one came."

"I came," Cassie said. "I heard you scream. It woke me up."

"I didn't hear anything," Faye said, Melissa agreeing.

"Well I did!" Cassie insisted. "Her screaming woke me up."

"Cassie, what are the chances of you hearing her scream and not us?" Faye asked. "I think you woke up, saw her having a nightmare, and you just want to be the hero."

Cassie moved towards Faye, about to retaliate. Diana tried to follow her, wanting to be near Cassie. She didn't know why, but her sister's presence comforted her. She tried to stand, but when she did she was brought back to the ground with a sharp pain in both legs. "Guys, I can't move. My legs hurt." Diana had tears in her eyes and hearing the pain in her voice brought Cassie right back to her sisters side.

Melissa went to check on Diana's legs. The minute Melissa touched her Diana screamed in pain and tried to move away. It just made the pain worse. "Cassie, hold her still." Melissa said, but Cassie already had her arms around Diana holding her. She was whispering words into Diana's ears, telling Diana it would be okay.

Faye helped Melissa take off Diana's pajama bottoms so they could get a look at her legs. They were burnt, completely burnt as though she had been in a fire. From her position Cassie saw the burns and stopped talking.

"What's wrong?" Diana asked, and she looked down. She screamed as she saw the burns and put her head against Cassie's chest.

Cassie kept her arms around Diana. "It had to be the nightmare. She ran into a burning building and now she has burns."

"How can a dream do this?" Melissa asked, not understanding. "Did she do it herself with magic while she was dreaming?"

"I don't know, but I know who knows more about magic then all of us." Faye jumped up and ran out the door before Cassie and Melissa could say anything else.

"Cassie," Diana's voice was barely above a whisper. "I believe you." Cassie looked at Diana confused. "If you say you heard me scream then you heard me scream. I don't know how, but I know you did."

Cassie smiled and held her sister. "You're going to be okay. I'll make sure of it." Cassie promised. Cassie felt tears come to her eyes. She just got her sister back and she was already hurt. Melissa stepped aside, letting them have a moment as she tried to remember what to do for burns. She wondered where Faye had gone to.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

A noise woke Jake up from his sleep. He had fallen asleep at his desk with his head against the keyboard and the vial on the desk next to him. He took it in his hand looking it over. This was the scene Faye came into when she rushed into the room. Jake hadn't even noticed she walked in.

"JAKE!" Faye yelled, getting really pissed off at that stupid vial. It was all Jake did those days, star at his idiotic vial and research it.

Jake jumped up a bit and went to look at Faye. "I don't want to watch 'Men in Black', all right?" Jake told Faye, figuring she was here to get him to come to the sleepover to watch the movies. There was no way he was going to stop his research to watch some stupid movie that he has already seen a couple of times.

Faye was confused to how Jake knew what movies they were going to watch, but decided to put that on the back burner. "No, you idiot, that's not what I'm here about." Faye took a breath so she didn't lose her temper. "Diana is hurt." Jake looked at Faye. "Her legs are completely burnt and we have no idea how it happened. You know the most about magic, so come on."

Faye went to the door and then turned around. "Or if you want to say here and look at your stupid dirt or sand or whatever it is I'll understand. Cassie, Melissa, and I can take care of Diana." Faye walked out of the room.

Jake looked down at the vial one last time before putting it down. His Circle needed him and he would. "Faye, wait up." Jake yelled, running after Faye and catching up with her before she exited the house. "You could have waited a second."

"No time to waste," Faye told Jake as they left the house. Jake didn't see the small smile come across Faye's face. She thought that maybe this was a start to fixing their relationship.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Adam paced restlessly on the dock. He was wondering if maybe he should jump in where flames couldn't reach him. Already he could see the fire's tongues licking away at the edges of a window, and he feared that it would follow him. What if jumping in the water would only make it boil? What if the fish turned against him? Was he cursed by the skull? He knew how a trapped animal felt, and he desperately wanted to escape.

Suddenly there was a piercing scream, one that echoed across the docks. Diana? It had sounded like her, or at least some girl. Cursed or not, he had to go save the girl. He owed it to whoever it was considering that he'd gotten them stuck near or in the fire somehow. Though he felt awful that someone had gotten stuck in the mess he'd made, it felt good to be saving someone instead of wanting to destroy a continent.

Inside Adam could barely see through the flames in the back room. They hadn't spread though the restaurant part of the Boathouse, but he knew they would. There was another scream, louder. It was only a few feet away.

Adam nearly dove into the fire when he saw who it was; Diana. She was cowering away from him, crying as the flames lapped upwards and around her legs, searing her flesh. When he took a second look he realized that she looked like a ghost. Her skin was pale, translucent. Her screams echoed like she was stuck in a tiny room. Another second and suddenly she was gone, along with the fire.

Adam stared in astonishment as he looked around. The papers he'd disintegrated were back, the bookshelves and the walls completely unscathed. He glanced around for a few seconds before pelting towards the beach.

The skull was half-buried, sand washed over it by the tide. For some reason not as much power resonated from it, and Adam found he could pick it up without taking any energy from it. Grateful, he buried the skull and hurried away. Maybe he could get some sleep tonight.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Faye, where on earth did you go?" Melissa asked as the brunette witch strode in with Jake. "Why is he here?"

Cassie ignored all of them, rocking Diana in her arms as Melissa tried to cover Diana's legs with water-soaked cloths. Diana whimpered, gripping Cassie's arms tightly. "It's okay." Cassie soothed.

"C-Cassie…" Diana moaned, tears leaking from her eyes. "It h-hurts."

"Shhhhh, I know, I know. Shhhhhhhh, Diana, it'll be okay." Cassie whispered. Melissa mumbled an apology and gave up, sliding a clean blanket underneath Diana so her legs wouldn't have to touch the floor.

"So she had a dream, and then her legs were burned?" Jake asked. "What do you want me to do?"

"Is it magical?" Faye asked, kneeling next to Melissa. "We though you might know."

Jake frowned, then mumbled something underneath his breath. Everyone waited, expecting something to happen, but nothing did.

"Well?" Faye asked, clearly concerned.

"It's magical, but I can't fix it." Jake said. He touched Diana's leg gently, eliciting a pained cry from her. Cassie glared daggers at him.

"Stop it!" She said. "Don't hurt her."

"These burns are bad." Jake said, ignoring her. "Magical or not, she needs a hospital."

Jake carried Diana out to Faye's car, helping slide her onto Cassie's lap, her legs stretched out on the seat with the white blanket underneath her.

Cassie stroked Diana's hair, wishing she knew a spell that could lessen the pain. Diana's forehead was drenched in sweat, and she was biting her lip so hard that she'd drawn blood. "Cassie?"

"Does something else hurt?" Cassie asked. "Is there something I can do?"

"Thank you." Diana whispered. "For… just being here."

"It's what sisters do."

Diana nodded.

"Ready to go?" Jake asked from the front seat, Melissa and Faye jammed in next to him.

Cassie opened her mouth to say something when Diana gasped. "What's wrong?" was the first thing out of Cassie's mouth.

Diana wordlessly kicked the blanket aside, revealing that her legs were healing. Blackened skin slowly faded to ugly red, then pink, then pale as the burns reversed themselves. Soon there was nothing left but ordinary skin.

"Who did that?" Faye asked accusingly.

"Not me." Everyone chorused.

"It just happened." Diana said."One second they were burned, and then the pain faded. Maybe it was a temporary effect of the dream?"

"Who would do that?" Melissa demanded. "Who would torture someone like that?"

"The Balcoins." Jake snarled. He flung the car door open, storming down the driveway.

"Jake!" Faye stumbled after him, tripping as she navigated the gravel in bare feet. "Jake, wait! You can't know it was them!"

"They were about to cut Melissa's heart out last time we saw them." Jake said. "You think they wouldn't do something like this? I mean, Diana_ is_ the other Blackwell, so maybe they wanted to get back at us for saying she wasn't here. They could have thought we were lying."

Faye grabbed his arm. "Please, Jake, don't go after them tonight. You don't know it was them. Maybe it was just the effect of having two Blackwell in the same room."

He looked as furious as ever, but Faye was grateful to see him nod slowly. "Okay."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"You listened to me today." Faye said softly, entering Jake's room. He looked up. "You didn't go after them."

Jake hid the little vial in a metal container, walking to where Faye was and hugging her. It was a rare sign of affection, especially since all he did was kiss her or have sex with her. That had been what it seemed like all summer, anyway. Slowly he led her by the hands, all the way to his bed. "I should do that more often."

"You should." Faye agreed. She sat down next to him. "So…?"

"So what?"

"What now?"

Jake shrugged. "I was thinking that maybe after the weird night we've all had some sleep would be nice."

"Sleep?" Faye asked, thinking of both the connotations and denotations of the word. "Sleep sleep? Or not sleep at all sleep?"

He slid arms around her waist, pulling her back onto the bed and moving the blankets over the two of them. "Sleep sleep."

Faye snuggled towards him until her back was firmly pressed against his front. He laid soft kisses in her hair. "Goodnight, Jake."

"Goodnight, Faye."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie had just finished her bath and was on her way to the room, when the doorbell rang. She was finishing getting her hair dry and just couldn't imagine who it would be; it was a little late to a visit.

Diana was lying in Cassie's bed, since she's wanted to be near Cassie if she had another nightmare. Melissa and Faye had gone home, agreeing that they'd had enough drama for one night. Cassie decided to answer the door, since Diana was clearly exhausted.

Thinking that it has to be some other bad news, Cassie rushed to the door, still holding the towel which she was drying her hair with and her bathrobe. She opened the door expecting someone from the Circle, instead seeing Dylan and Claire.

Dylan raised an eyebrow.

"This is how you answer the door usually?" He asked, taking a look to her messed bathrobe and the wet towel. "Because, as your brother, I have to make a strong objection against this behavior."

Cassie rolled her eyes, trying to figure out what in the world those two were doing there. She looked back and she saw Diana standing at the top of the stairs. Cassie shook her head and Diana went back upstairs.

"What's wrong?" She asked, trying to make herself looking more presentable. "Did those two finally get fed up by you and kick you out?"

Dylan gave her a little smirk. So they could act like brother and sister, after all.

"No, they didn't. And even if that was the case, this would be the last place on earth where I would come." Cassie looked at him, her eyebrows raised.

Without asking for permission, Dylan passed her and got inside the house. Claire was after him. Cassie stood for a while at the door, until she turned to see them comfortably sitting on her sofa. She prayed they wouldn't go upstairs and find Diana.

"Your house is nice." Claire told her, taking a look around.

"Thanks."

"Too bad your grandma died here, in this room." Claire concluded.

Cassie blinked. Some other psychic ability, for sure. Reading memories from the room, maybe? She realized it wasn't so bad having the tow younger ones around, though she wished she knew what they wanted.

"Yeah, it really kind of ruins the feel for me." She told Claire in casual tone.

Cassie took a seat in front of them and for a few seconds they just looked at each other. It was a very cold night and her wet hair was making her chilly. Cassie hoped she wouldn't get a cold or something.

So, she realized while she was looking at Claire and Dylan there were many similarities between them. The eyes shapes were the same. The lips too…

Cassie then realized she had no idea how long much time had passed.

"So, what are you guys doing here?" She finally asked. Suddenly she realized she was sleepy and being with them, she had to be alert.

"We came on a diplomatic mission". Dylan answered. Cassie snorted.

"Have you had any trouble with dark magic in the past hours?" Claire asked her. Cassie felt her heartbeat become faster as she looked at her, her eyes were clear and looked very honest. "I mean, we probably always have problems with it, but have you had problems with something else?"

Those words sounded cautious: something else? _Yeah, some unknown force made its way into Diana's head. Why do you ask?_

"How would you know about that?" She asked them, and for some reason that Cassie couldn't really figure out, she forced herself to stop thinking about what happened to Diana a few hours ago, they couldn't know Diana was here.

It would be easier to lie if she didn't think, right?

"Well, it's interesting." Dylan started. "A few hours ago, there we were, thinking about our lives when we just felt this amazing force. Very similar to our own, in essence".

"Yeah, very dark. Very big and dark." Claire told her. Cassie realized the girl was staring at her the whole time, and she didn't know why she thought that was important. "Scary."

"Freaking scary." Dylan contemplated. "Anyway, we just were all curious about it, you know? We were wondering if it had come from you or your Circle. If you two were playing games. So we decided just come here and ask."

"And Lucas and Ryder didn't want to come?" asked Cassie in a skeptical tone. "For some reason I don't believe they would miss the chance of stopping by."

"They really don't want freak you out again and have your Circle threatening us." Claire said. "Plus, they aren't good with people." Her tone was bitter.

"So, was that you?" Dylan asked her.

"Yes." Cassie said, finally realizing what to tell them. "It was me."

Neither of them seemed surprise.

"I see." Dylan said.

"I had a nightmare." Cassie told them. "I guess it got out of control. It's okay now, though."

"Claire used to have a lot of nightmares." Dylan looked at her sister. "She burned the whole house down once."

"Do you want me to take a look at you?" Claire offered, still looking at Cassie. Her eyes were huge, like two shining drops of water. Cassie found herself distracted by them, along with sleep deprivation and the lingering effects of the alcohol.

"We get it, you know." Claire continued. "We've all had nightmares and done some weird stuff."

Cassie blinked and the living room was in focus again.

"You really should let us to take a look at you, Cassie." Dylan had a coffee in his hands and Cassie didn't remember when he got that.

Cassie looked at him and thought that his voice sounded exactly like their father's. Like when their father was still a nice, changed man.

But that was a lie.

Cassie blinked again and they were still on the living room. She stared at the two young Balcoins, suddenly feeling threatened. Her father had tried to look after her, holding her when she cried about Adam. Why should she believe that they wanted to help her now?

Suddenly, they didn't look so young and innocent anymore.

"You two should go." She said in a hard tone. "Now."

Cassie got up as did Dylan and Claire. The two glanced about the room suspiciously as Cassie led them to the door. She was feeling very angry and she didn't even know why.

"See you soon, big sis." Dylan said to Cassie.

"I hope not." Cassie closed the door and took a deep breath. She knew that she should stay as far away as possible from the Balcoins.

Cassie went upstairs and Diana was waiting for her in the hall, holding her shampoo and other bath things.

"I was going to the bathroom and heard them leaving." Diana said. "What happened? What did they want?"

Cassie shrugged. "They… umm… they felt the energy from the dream you had, I guess. They wanted to know what it was and if I was okay."

Diana smiled, forever an optimist. 'That's nice of them. Maybe they aren't so bad after all."

"You can't go near them, though." Cassie pleaded. "Please?"

"I won't, I promise." Diana said. She headed towards the bathroom. "You'll be here when I come back?"

"Of course."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Claire and Dylan were walking very relaxed back to the hotel. The night was cold and their breath made smoke on the air. Claire seemed distracted, but her brother knew her for long enough not to be fooled by this. Claire's brain was like a machine, it never stopped. Dylan kicked a can that was lying on the ground.

"So." He asked, unable to wait. "What's going on in your head?"

"What Cassie said." Claire told him, shrugging. "Someone had a bad dream. It's fine now."

"And...?"

"And she was hiding something." Claire said. "There was someone in the house, you know."

"Yep, I felt it too". He put his hands in his jacket pockets. "Did Cassie know that? She seems to miss a lot of things."

"She hasn't been a witch long enough." Claire guessed. "Whatever was in the house, she either doesn't know about it, or it's a person and she does."

The street was very quiet.

"I don't believe that all that dark magic was from only Cassie." Claire stood there for a minute, looking to nowhere. "She hasn't practiced enough and... it was something else."

"Something?" Dylan was very interested.

"Something evil. And very powerful." Claire looked nervous.

Dylan smiled. "I think that's exactly what Lucas and Ryder will want to hear."


	3. Powerless

**Plotline writers – Forcystus5, xleamalfoyx, Coralinas, thefallenloveoflife,**

**Writers – Coralinas, Forcystus5, CharmedMilliE, ilove2dance, luisa Mendoza, thefallenloveoflife, witch-witha-B, TtylerMaria**

**Editors – flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B**

**Graphic Designers – xleamalfoyx, Charlene F.**

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**Tumblr Account – witch-witha-B,**

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**If those don't work, the twitter account is TSC_Project and the tumblr account is The Secret Circle Project**

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**Disclaimer: We don't own The Secret Circle.**

**NOTICE: We're taking a week off (kinda like the CW) to regroup and try to start posting on Thursdays instead of Fridays/Saturdays. Expect another chapter on June 21****st**

Episode 3 – "Powerless"

Cassie didn't want to open her eyes. She just wanted to go back to sleep. She felt like she could sleep all day long. Then she felt someone move next to her and Cassie opened her eyes. Diana was in Cassie's bed. Her head was basically on top of Cassie, using blond witch as a pillow. Cassie had her arms around the sleeping girl. Cassie was confused for a minute on why Diana was in her bed and then remembered the events of last night. Diana having the nightmare, and how Diana wanted to sleep with Cassie because she felt safer with Cassie.

Cassie halfway thought that she should just go back to sleep and let Diana sleep longer, since she deserved a few more hours of sleep. Cassie closed her eyes for a while longer, but when she felt Diana move again she figured it might be time to get up. Opening her eyes again Cassie started to shake Diana a little. "Hey Diana, time to wake up." Diana slowly opened her eyes and looked at Cassie.

"Why did you wake?" Diana mumbled once again closing her eyes.

"Because it's time to get up and I have to use the bathroom." Cassie told Diana, but really she was all for going back to sleep. "Besides school starts in a few days and we need to get stuff, so get off of me."

"You're comfortable," Diana said, but decided she had to agree with Cassie. It was time to get up. Diana moved aside and sat on the bed. As soon as she was free Cassie got out of the bed.

"I take it you slept well then." Cassie said as she looked for an outfit to wear for the day.

"No more nightmares, if that's what you mean." Diana smiled. "I think you kept them away."

"Glad I did my part." Cassie laughed and then looked at Diana. "Something wrong?" Diana was sitting on the bed looking at her hand. Cassie knew what she was looking at. The symbol that was on her hand. Cassie had spent a lot of time looking at the symbol too, but she had gotten used to it being there. The way Diana looked at is was as though she was confused by it.

"Um... It's probably nothing, but the symbol is itchy." Diana told her sister looking at her. "It feels weird. In fact I feel a little weird. Maybe it's reacting to something. Is yours doing the same?"

Cassie looked down at her symbol. It felt completely normal to her. "No, I'm fine. Completely normal." Diana nodded, but she looked upset at the news. She was hoping the same was going on with Cassie as it was with her. "Maybe it's just an after effect of the dream." Cassie suggested. "It's the only thing different between the two of us. I'm sure you'll be fine and it will go away soon."

Diana smiled. "Yeah you're probably right. I'm hungry. I'll make us breakfast while you're in the bathroom. You like pancakes?"

"Love them," Cassie called out to Diana as she left. Cassie smiled happy to have her sister back.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie walked into the bathroom and went to start her morning routine, which usually involved taking a shower, but since she took a bath last night she decided to skip that part. She went to take the soap out of the shower so she could wash her face when she noticed something weird. On the floor of the shower seemed to be little particles of sand. Cassie looked at it confused. She hadn't been to the beach in a long time and had just cleaned the shower the other day. There was no reason for there to be sand in her shower. She turned on the water for a second so the water would bring the sand down the drain. When the sand was gone, Cassie finished washing her face and then brushed her hair before going downstairs.

When she got to the kitchen Diana had just finished making pancakes for the two of them. "Damn, you're spoiling me." Cassie told her sister as she sat down and took her plate of pancakes. Taking the maple syrup she poured in on top as Diana handed her a cup of coffee.

"Well, you've been so good to me. Helping me last night with the nightmare and everything. This is the least I could do." Diana said as she too started to eat her plate of pancakes.

"Hey, what are sisters for?" Cassie said and then put some of the pancakes in her mouth.

Diana swallowed. "You know you seriously need to go shopping. You don't have much."

"Ms. Chamberlain keeps me well fed. I don't need much," Cassie explained. It was true that she didn't keep much in the house. She had snacks and had bought stuff to make breakfast in the morning just in case she felt like cooking, but besides that all she had were leftovers. "I eat dinner there a lot." Diana nodded and the two were silent for a while. "Did you take a shower last night?"

"Yeah, why?"

"There was sand on the floor of the shower and I'm not too sure where it came from. Did you by chance have any sand on you?"

Diana thought it over for a minute. In the summer her and Grant had spent time at a couple of different beaches, but nothing for a while. There was no reason for her to have sand on her. Then she remembered something. "You know I think it transferred from Jake to me when he picked me up last night. I'm pretty sure I felt something come off his hands and onto my skin, but I didn't pay too much attention to what it was. You know, horrible pain with my legs and everything."

"Oh," Cassie said not wanting to talk about the nightmare and deciding to go back to the sand. "Then it must have come from his precious vial. It must have gotten on his hands by accident. Man he's going to flip when he realizes he lost a little of it." Cassie almost laughed thinking about that.

"You mean that vial that Faye is so jealous over?" Diana asked trying to remember everything she was told last night. She thought she remembered everything, but it was a lot to take in.

"Yeah that's the one," Cassie said with a laugh. "Faye is kind of jealous of that vial, but to be fair to her Jake is getting a little obsessed with it. I swear one of these days Faye is just going to walk into Jake's room to find him making out with the thing."

Diana started to laugh at Cassie's comment. She laughed so hard her coffee ended up coming out her nose. "Thanks for that, Cassie." Diana said and the two girls continued laughing thinking about Jake making out with a vial.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Adam woke up to a pounding migraine and a bad taste in his mouth. Slowly walking into the back room he glanced around, everything untouched and as it was left the day before. Adam let out a breath of relief, but that breath caught tight in his throat. _Diana. _It had been so real! The flames, the heat, even her. He knew it was silly but he had to check in on her. Dialing her phone number he couldn't help but wince at how loud the dial tone was. _One ring, two rings, three, four, five... _

"Hi! You've reached Diana Meade! Sorry I can't come to the phone right now, but if you leave a message at the beep I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Here comes the beep."

Quickly hanging up the phone Adam was now going out of his mind with worry. What if it hadn't been an illusion? Could it have been the real deal? He had to head over to Cassie's and check on her.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

As the laugher was just dying down the front door opened and Adam came running into the kitchen.

"Again? Seriously. Does no one in our group know how to use a doorbell?" Cassie asked, but she was still giggling a bit from the image of Jake and his vial so she didn't appear to be that mad.

"Um... Sorry," Adam said, nervously looking at the laughing girls.

"You want breakfast?" Diana asked. "I have some pancake mix left. I can easily whip up another plate full."

"No...um... Are you two okay?" Adam was nervous as he asked, but neither girl seemed to notice. "I just... um... had a bad feeling that something might have happened to you two."

"We're fine, at least now." Cassie said.

"What? You weren't fine before?" Adam was very jumpy.

"Last night I had a nightmare." Diana informed Adam, and Adam was a bit relieved that was all they were talking about. "Weird thing is in the nightmare I was in a burning building, and when I woke up my legs were completely burnt." Adam suddenly got very nervous again. "It hurt so much and then it just disappeared."

"Yeah, that was freaky," Cassie agreed. "Let's hope it never happened again." Cassie took another bite out of her pancakes. "You know, you're a really good cook."

"I lived with only my dad my whole life. I needed to learn how to cook." Diana told her sister. "You sure you don't want any?"

"Um... no... I'm fine... really... besides I have..." Adam thought for a minute. He wanted out of that house and needed an excuse to leave. "I have to... well, you know... I've got work and stuff to do. I'll see you later." Adam was slowly walking backwards to the door as he was talking and when he was done he ran as fast as he could before either girl could say anything.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but the boathouse doesn't open for a few more hours, right?" Diana asked, and Cassie nodded. The two looked back at where Adam just was and then started laughing again. "What was that about?"

"I have no clue," Cassie answered. "I don't spend much time with Adam any more. Not since the elixir thing." Diana nodded, understanding. "I'm sure it was nothing though. He's been acting like that for a while now." Cassie continued eating for a bit and Diana decided Cassie was right. Things had changed since she had been gone and there was no reason for her to think something was wrong with Adam, so she shoved the idea aside and she too continued to eat her breakfast.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye woke up after probably the best night's sleep she had had in a while, she went to stretch but found that her movement was restricted. A frown formed on her face before she felt an arm tightening around her waist and realised where she was causing a small smile to form on her lips. She then realised she was still dressed in the pajamas she had changed into at Cassie's the night before. The feeling was weird, waking up with Jake holding her and both of them wearing clothes. It was weird, but a good weird. Now Faye was fully awake she noted the slight headache she was getting, _must have been the wine_ she thought, she knew food and coffee helped but first she had to get up without waking Jake.

After some manoeuvring on Faye's part, she managed to get out of bed and out from Jake's arms. Feeling a slight chill, she grabbed Jake's sweatshirt off his desk chair and slipped it on as she padded out of the room and down the stairs. Heading straight for the kitchen she left the kettle to boil and raided the cupboards to try and find something decent to eat, she was luck in the fact that she knew where everything was in the house and the kitchen. Nothing had moved in two years that was the weird thing, the last time she and Jake had been anywhere near where they were now in their relationship it was before he disappeared two years ago.

Faye was shaken from her thoughts when the kettle finished boiling, she quickly made herself a cup of coffee and stood with her hands wrapped around the cup thinking. Again Faye was shaken out of her thoughts when she saw someone almost running out of Cassie's front door. A frown formed on her face when she saw that it was Adam,

"What are you hiding?" she asked quietly, the Adam situation was intriguing to her. Everyone else seemed to brush it off or tell her to leave it but Faye had a feeling and there was no way she was going to let Adam's behaviour slide.

"You're up early." Jake said as he walked into the kitchen in a pair of sweatpants,

"Mmmmm." Faye mumbled taking a sip of her coffee and watching out of the window as Adam sped away in his truck,

"What's wrong?" Jake asked a frown on his face as he stood behind Faye and looked out of the window not seeing anything as Adam had already sped off,

"Adam." she said simply, turning around to face him leaning back against the counter, she hadn't really brought up the Adam issue with Jake yet. Maybe because he wasn't distracted by his precious vial he would listen to her.  
"Don't you think he has been acting weird?" she asked "I mean, he just ran out of Cassie's place like a sissy girl." she told him, taking another sip of her coffee.

Jake took the cup out of her hands and took a sip of the coffee,

"That is disgusting, how the hell do you drink it like that?" he said, giving her back her cup and grabbing another out of the cupboard to make himself a cup.

"Did you even listen to what I just said?" she asked him her voice telling him she was ticked off at his lack of response,

"If something was up with Conant, you would be the last person he would tell" Jake told her as he made himself a coffee,

"So you agree something is up?" she said taking another sip of her coffee a small smirk on her face.

"Look, Conant is just being as weird as he usually is." he told her "Don't start obsessing over it."

"Hypocrite," She said, "And I am not obsessing, whatever Adam is up to I'm going to find out." She told him, heading back upstairs to get dressed. She wanted to know what Adam was doing at Cassie's so early in the morning.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Dad, I'm leaving!" Melissa yelled, reaching for her purse. It was her back-to-school shopping day, a yearly ritual that she always did by herself. Much as she loved Faye, whenever she took her Faye would end up flirting with the cute cashiers while Melissa tried to check out. Once she went into a mall expecting to get some pencils and notebooks and came out with newly-pierced ears. Faye was easily distracted by shopping.

"Have fun, sweetheart." Her dad said, planting a kiss on the top of her head. She had to lean up on her tiptoes, and she didn't mind at all.

When she opened the door Melissa's heart nearly stopped. On her doorstep were Claire and Dylan, Claire with her finger poised over the doorbell as though she was about to ring it. Her eye got wider. "I… um…"

"We're not going to hurt you." Claire assured her quickly. Melissa was suspicious, but she trusted Claire the most out of the entire group. "Lucas and Ryder want us to watch everyone, and we saw you were leaving."

"How…?"

"Through that window." Dylan pointed at it, like she was an idiot. "You picked up your car keys."

Melissa said, "And you care where I'm going because…?"

Claire and Dylan just shrugged.

"Lucas and Ryder want to know, don't they?" Melissa said. She knew by looks on Claire's and Dylan's faces that she was right. The two older Balcoins probably thought Diana was in town somewhere—which was true, but they didn't know it—and maybe they thought someone in the Circle would go see her.

Claire nodded. "Yeah… we probably shouldn't have told you why we were here."

"Then why did you?"

"Claire trusts you." Dylan explained when Claire refused to speak, merely looking down and shuffling her feet nervously. "She says she can feel how gentle and kind you are, so that makes me know you wouldn't give us away."

Melissa's heart softened at his words, and at how scared the Balcoins really were if she looked harder. They were just kids, and the poor things were always getting kicked around by Lucas and Ryder. She wondered why they had agreed to come to Chance Harbour in the first place.

"Look," Melissa began, "I was just going school shopping. Do you guys go to school?"

"Ryder and Lucas say we should focus on uniting the Balcoin Circle." Claire said. "I went to school before, in…" she looked down again.

"We've been before, but once Lucas and Ryder showed up that was over." Dylan explained.

Melissa thought for a moment. "I have an idea; what if you two came with me, and I got you some stuff? I bet I could pull a few strings at the school and get you in."

Claire and Dylan brightened at the suggestion. "Really?" Claire asked.

"Really." Melissa smiled. She gestured at them to follow as she headed to the car. "Normally I do this alone, but what's more fun than making new traditions?"

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye causally strolled in through the door, left open by Adam. "Cassie? Cassie?"

"In here!" Cassie called from the direction of the kitchen. When Faye entered she saw Cassie and Diana at the kitchen counter, hungrily devouring pancakes. "Did you shut the door on your way in?"

"No." Faye said.

"Of course you didn't."

"Adam was sure in a hurry," Faye said, completely ignoring Cassie, "And I'd really like to know why."

"He got spooked when we told him about Diana's nightmare." Cassie explained. She held up a plate. "Pancakes?"

Faye grabbed the plate and settled next to Diana. "About time. You take all my food, so it's only fair…"

"Give it a rest!" Cassie said. "Besides, as long as Diana is here I'll have my own food."

"True, very true." Diana agreed. She handed Faye a napkin, glaring disapprovingly as Faye licked syrup off her fingers.

Cassie finished her food and stood. "Almost ready, Diana?"

"Sort of."

"Why you two going somewhere? Maybe the dark magic clubhouse?" Faye asked. She yelped when Cassie elbowed her in the ribs. "I told you, I hate when you do that!"

"Then don't antagonize me." Cassie retorted. She headed out of the room.

Faye said sulkily, "More like poking a sleeping bear."

"You shouldn't be so hard on her all the time." Diana reprimanded. She sighed, pressing her hands to her forehead. "I have a pounding headache from last night. Why is it that I thought drinking was a good idea?"

"Because it is."

"Never again." Diana groaned.

Faye watched as the smaller girl hoisted herself to her feet and headed to the sink, lazily dumping her plate in with a clatter. "So, Lady Di—"

"Why do you keep calling me that?" Diana asked, walking back to Faye. "That nickname is so old…"

"Yes, and it's still adorable." Faye said, smiling in an oddly un-Faye-like manner. "Besides," she continued, back to her old self, "It annoys the hell out of you."

"I guess I don't mind. What were you going to say?" Diana took Faye by the wrist and led her to the living room.

Faye said, "Right, that. Well, last night you were pretty drunk, and I was having some self-esteem problems…" she watched Diana's face carefully. "Any of this familiar?"

Diana shook her head, eyes blank. "Not really. I just remember a lot of talking, and then the nightmare, and then waking up this morning. The rest is blurry."

"Well, do you remember my face wayyyy up close to yours?"

Diana was even more confused. "What?"

Faye laughed, poking Diana's side playfully. "You want to know? I was just seeing if you remembered, and if you were freaking out like you usually do."

"What happened?" The look of consternation on Diana's face was making it hard for Faye not to laugh, but she tried her best. "What, Faye?"

"You kind of kissed me." Faye explained. She smiled despite her efforts not to when Diana's face went red. "What? It's not that uncommon, girls kissing girls. Not my first time, anyway."

"No surprise there." Cassie commented as she walked in. "You okay, Diana?"

"Fine." Diana replied shortly. "But I am _never_ drinking again!"

Faye gave in, pulling Diana into a friendly hug. "Aw, poor Di!"

"Don't patronize me!" Diana complained, squirming away from Faye, who laughed. When Faye started to pout as Diana left, Diana said, "Oh, fine." and gave her a friend a sincere hug.

"We're leaving now." Cassie said to Faye. "That means get out of my house so I won't have to dig you up from under the rubble when I get back."

"Fine." Faye strode out to her waiting car. "You two have fun!"

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Thanks for helping us out Melissa. Truthfully, I love school. I was worried when Lucas and Ryder showed up and recruited us that I wouldn't be able to go anymore." Dylan said, following her and Claire into the boathouse.

"It's no problem guys, school is important. You should be going no matter what the circumstances are... wait, what do you mean by recruited?" Melissa asked, catching on to the edge in Dylan's voice when he said recruited. The three chose a booth to sit in.

"Well, our mom's really good at the craft, powerful. She's been teaching us for as long as I can remember, but one day we're in the middle of a lesson on herbs and potions, when the doorbell rings and these two boys are standing there. Mom's always been a good reader, she can read personalities, get a feel for a person without even knowing their names. She instantly knew who these boys were. She was hesitant at first, not exactly a fan of our father because he was the only one who was ever able to fool her abilities, but Ryder, in all his snake-like charm was able to convince her that it would be a good learning experience to let them take us with them. After all, we were family." Dylan said.

"That's where I got my ability from, my mother; she says I'm even more powerful than her." Claire said with a smirk, but then her face fell, "I love my brothers. I really do, but Lucas has his temper, and Ryder is a master manipulator. So nice, so much charm, but full of ulterior motives. School would be good for us, to get some time away from them." Melissa could hear the sincerity in Claire's voice. She did love them, no denying that, but it was hard for her, and that was just as obvious.

"Melissa, what are they doing here?" Adam's voice surprised the three and Melissa turned to him.

"They came to talk to me, they're stuck in their hotel room bored, needed to get out. Out of all the people in our circle, they knew _I'd_give them a chance. These two aren't that bad. Sweet kids." Claire and Dylan smiled at Melissa defending them and not telling him that they'd been sent to spy.

"Well, I trust your judgment. So I guess I should just take your orders."

"Two burgers, lots of fries and a Dr pepper for me." Dylan said with a smile. Claire rolled her eyes at her brother's huge order.

"I'll have fish and chips, and a sweet tea Please." She ordered.

"And I'll have the usual." Melissa said grinning up at Adam.

"Coming right up."

"He's cute. I approve." Clair said grinning at Melissa

"What are you talking about?" She sputtered, a little colour coming to her cheeks.

"You like that boy."

"N-No I don't." Her reply came a little too soon.

"Oh! No, of course not." Claire said with a wink and holding her hands in surrender, after seeing Adam headed back with the food.

"Hey Adam, I wanted to apologize for the way Faye's been hounding you. I know you're not hiding anything. I'm sure it's just her trying to focus on something other than the problems she's been having with Jake lately." Melissa added, voice lowered so the Balcoins couldn't hear.

"Yeah I guess that must be it." Adam said trying his best to sound nonchalant. Melissa then started talking to him about something else, Claire waited until after they had been pulled into a conversation before turning to Dylan and whispering

"He is hiding something, I can read it all over him, but he's hiding it so well my powers can't even get a feel for what." Dylan sent a sceptical glance at Adam before turning back

"Let's not tell anyone about this. Not even Ryder. I'm not sure it would be a good idea." Claire just nodded and then tuned into the conversation Melissa was having.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Jake sighed, rumpled one of the pages of his Book of Shadows as he flipped through it. He knew that it didn't hold any of the answers he was looking for, and if it hadn't before it wouldn't now, but he didn't want to admit defeat. He couldn't contact his Grandpa, since, according to neighbours the old man had left shortly after mailing the vial. If whatever was coming had scared his powerful Grandpa away, then Jake knew the vial wasn't a joke. His Grandfather wasn't crazy, not about things this serious.

Jake went to put the book away when, to his horror, he notices a few grains of sand on his desk. The vial! It must've opened when he had been sleeping, and he hadn't noticed the sand had gotten out. Jake rummaged through his desk until he found it. The vial's lid was cracked open, but Jake was relieved to see that barely any sand had gotten out. He made sure to wrap in a few pieces of cloth, in case it came open again.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie and Diana were just walking down the street laughing and talking. They were supposed to be trying to find a new place for Diana to live, but neither were in that much of a hurry. Cassie truthfully didn't want Diana leaving her house. It was nice to have the company and being so near her sister was great. Diana for her part wasn't too excited to be going to live on her own either. It was going to feel weird, but she knew she couldn't stay at Cassie's forever even though they both seemed to want it that way. Diana knew she and Cassie weren't going to be able to live together as they worked out some issues they have that they had been ignoring.

Diana suddenly froze as she saw someone. Cassie continued walking for a bit until she realized Diana was no longer walking next to her. Cassie stopped and turned around to see Diana frozen in one spot. "Something wrong?" Cassie asked her sister, but there was no respond. "Diana." Cassie walked back to her sister and placed a hand on her shoulder. Diana turned to face Cassie. "Is something wrong?" Diana lifted up one hand and pointed in a direction.

Cassie turned to look in the direction Diana was pointing. Cassie was confused for a minute, but then she saw what Diana saw. Sitting at one of those outdoor tables outside a restaurant was none other than Diana's grandmother Kate Meade. Looking at the woman made Cassie angry. The last time she had seen Kate Meade was when she had tried to bury Cassie alive.

"What do we do?" Diana whispered. "She tried to kill you because of your dark magic and now I have the same dark magic. What if she tries to do the same thing to me now that she knows I'm not really her granddaughter?" Diana was sure her father had told Kate about that when he found out. Charles Meade was a lot of things, and one of those things was a mama's boy.

"She hasn't seen us yet. We can just walk away and she'll never know." Cassie whispered, but saying the words was like a curse. At that moment Kate looked up from her menu and saw the two girls standing there. Their eyes met. "Run." Cassie whispered and the two turned around to move.

They didn't get too far though because Kate had been able to catch up and take hold of Diana's arm. Cassie stopped running and turned around ready to defend her sister. "You know for an older person you're pretty fast." Cassie commented, trying not to choke Kate with her magic in front of so many witnesses.

"Your generation is just out of shape," Kate answered not taking her hand off of Diana's arm. Diana and Cassie looked at each other. The two were actually in pretty good shape, but they hadn't been able to get away fast enough because they hadn't wanted to run down the kids behind them.

"Let go of me," Diana hissed at her grandmother. She had been mad at her grandmother ever since she had tried to kill Cassie. Even before she knew that Cassie was her sister Diana had loved her. Kate trying to kill her had hurt Diana badly, especially since Diana had told Cassie she could trust Kate.

"I've been looking for you all summer," Kate commented not letting go of Diana's arm. "I've been worried sick about you and it doesn't help when your friends won't answer my calls or come to the door when I knock." Kate looked at Cassie when she said this.

Cassie didn't say anything. It was true. Kate Meade had tried to contact her, but Cassie had avoided seeing her, but who could really blame Cassie for that? "Well maybe if you didn't try to kill my friend. No, wait, correction; if you didn't try to kill my sister, then my friends might be willing to talk to you." Diana wanted to see what reaction Kate would have to Cassie being her sister, but there was none. "I see you know that Charles Meade wasn't my biological father."

"I always had a feeling you weren't ours." Kate answered truthfully, which just made Diana angrier.

"You knew Cassie was my sister and you still tried to kill her." Diana was pissed now. It was bad when she thought that Kate had just thought Cassie was her friend, but she knew that Cassie was her sister.

"I had a feeling yes and the burying a person might have gone a little too..."

Before Kate could finish Diana interrupted her. "You tried to kill my sister. She's my family. My blood family. Not you." Diana had never felt so much anger. "Now what? you want to do the same thing to me? Get rid of all the dark magic?"

"Diana no, you're my granddaughter and I'm now your legal guardian since Charles is gone." Diana felt a twinge of fear. She didn't want anything to do with her grandmother. She didn't want to be near her and she didn't want to live with Kate Meade.

"I am not coming to live with you and now get your hand off my arm." Diana decided it was time to use magic to free herself. She tried throwing Kate away from her with all her magic, but all it did was make Kate stumble backwards a little. At the same time the symbol on her hand started to burn badly.

Cassie had been letting Diana and Kate have their little talk considering it family matter, but after seeing Diana fail to push Kate away decided it was time for her to intervene. Cassie used her magic to push Kate far back. The minute Kate was away from Diana the two girls began to run as fast as they could towards Cassie's house.

Kate stood there watching the two girls run. She wasn't going to let her granddaughter get away from her that easy. She will find her again now that she knew Diana was back in town and Diana would come live with her.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Melissa had been watching Adam rushing around serving people in the boathouse for about half an hour, waiting for him take a break once things died down, but so far he'd been too busy to stop working. She sighed and took another sip of her coffee just as Claire called out, "Hey Adam, the place is pretty dead now, why don't you come sit with us?"

"Sure just give me a second." He called back. Melissa shot Claire a _what are you doing?_ glance, Claire just shrugged it off and smiled stealing a fry from her brothers plate, having already finished hers.

"Hey! You have your own food." He complained

"Your point?" She asked with a wink.

"So, how's everyone's food?" Adam asked sitting down with the group.

"Pretty great, compliments to the chef!" Dylan said, mouth full. Claire rolled her eyes as Melissa and Adam laughed.

"So, how're things?" Melissa asked, leaning forward.

"Flipping fantastic." Adam sarcastically replied, not noticing the hurt on Melissa's face because of his bitter words.

"You looked busy." Melissa added smiling at Adam

"Yeah I was, sorry Melissa, I'm just in a really bad mood today." Adam told her.

Claire looked between the two, neither one seemed to notice that something was up with the other. Adam wasn't seeing that Melissa was hurt with how distant and weird he was acting and Melissa wasn't seeing that Adam was hiding something. Something Claire couldn't put her finger on, she just couldn't find it and Dylan wasn't much help he was just sat opposite her stuffing his face.

"No problem, maybe I can cheer you up?" Melissa suggested cheekily.

"Hmmm... maybe you can" Adam laughed

"We could go back to mine and get a drink, no one's in." Melissa told Adam, leaning forward over the table.

"That sounds like a very good idea." Adam agreed, laughing.

They both started to get up and get their coats preparing to leave but before they could Claire coughed and Dylan frowned as he heard their suggestions,

"Uh, still eating here." he said, and swallowed his mouthful of food before turning to Claire."What are we, invisible?" he asked.

"Stay and we can chat some more. I should apologize for before, the whole kidnapping Melissa and scaring your Circle. But it was an easy mistake just ignore Ryder and Lucas they get angry easily, but it all worked out in the end and no one was hurt" Claire gushed quickly smiling at Adam and Melissa who had seemed to have some sort of silent conversation before settling back in their seats.

Melissa nodded in agreement and Adam muttered something under his breath which sounded suspiciously like 'no thanks to you guys.'

"So what do you think of Chance Harbour so far?" Melissa asked, trying to break the silence

"Oh yes, it's great much better than the town we lived in before. We don't get out much because Ryder and Lucas don't like us too, but from what I've seen everyone here is so friendly and nice." Claire told them excitedly, while Dylan just nodded in agreement.

"You're awfully quiet Dylan." Adam remarked in an unfriendly manner, causing Melissa to elbow him whilst giving him her best death glare.

"Huh? Sorry, I'm really tired, but Claire's right. It's nice here; we just wish we could spend more time with Cassie. I mean, she is our sister... do you think you could have a word?" Dylan asked, sounding really hopeful.

Melissa, who didn't like to disappoint people, nodded. "Of course we can. I'm heading over to Cassie's later, I'll have a chat to her then."

"Thanks a lot!" both Claire and Dylan said, sounding like they meant it.

"I know Ryder and Lucas can be pretty hard to deal with but we're not like them. Honestly, we want to get to know Cassie and everything, obviously, and we did want to form a Balcoin circle like our Father wanted. We've never wanted to hurt other witches, we just wanted a family. A Circle which was made up of our brothers and sisters sounded like a really good idea." Claire admitted.

"Well Cassie already has a Circle, so does Diana." Adam told them harshly.

"Oh, we know that now and we don't want to break you up, honestly you guys are like a family. I can sense it. I would never want to break your family up." Claire answered honestly.

"Good, because we are a family and we all need each other." Adam told them, sounding friendlier now. Melissa nodded in agreement but gave Claire and Dylan a big warm smile, when they looked at her.

"You do have a _really _kind heart." Claire told Melissa earnestly.

"Oh, thanks..." Melissa replied kind of awkwardly

"Hmm, she does. doesn't she?" Adam agreed, leaning into Melissa with a smile on his face.

"So are you and Dylan planning on joining our school?" Adam asked Claire, changing the subject.

"Yeah, Melissa took us back to school shopping with her. I mean, Ryder and Lucas don't want us to, we're suppose to be learning extra magic and witchy things instead of going to school and studying normal things." Claire told them before Dylan interrupted her,

"Crap, have you seen the time?" he asked, but before receiving an answer he continued, "Lucas and Ryder will flip if we are back late, we're going to have to head out."

"Adam!" Ethan yelled from behind the bar "I could do with some help!"

"Okay!" Adam shouted getting up "Sorry." he said to Melissa "We'll have to hang out some other time."

"Of course, no problem." Melissa told Adam, plastering on a fake smile "I need to go see Cassie when these two leave anyway, I'll see you later?

"Yeah, of course, later..." Adam said, rushing off to help his dad, leaving Melissa to sit with Claire and Dylan, all of them finishing off their drinks before getting ready to head out.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie and Diana ran into Cassie's house and stopped to catch their breath. They hadn't stopped running from the time they had gotten away from Kate Meade to now. "I need a glass of water. You?" Cassie asked, panting. Diana just nodded and Cassie came back with two glasses. She handed one to Diana and the two sat in the living room as they drank.

When they were done with their glasses they put them on the table and then Cassie looked at Diana. "What happened there? Why didn't you throw Ms. Meade away from you?'

Diana looked at her sister and then at her hand. She had wanted to throw her grandmother away from her. She had tried with all her might to use all her powers to get her grandmother away from her, but it didn't work. "I couldn't." Diana whispered.

"Diana I know she's your grandmother, but she did try to bury me alive. I think you could have just thrown her away from you." Cassie had clearly misunderstood what Diana had meant which caused Diana to look at her.

"I didn't mean I couldn't because of who she was. I mean I physically couldn't. It felt like my magic was blocked or something." Cassie stared at Diana, not understanding. She had never heard of magic being blocked like that. Sure witch hunters used tricked to block someone magic, but that always involved something to make the powers not work. There was nothing Cassie could see that would block Diana's powers.

"Are you sure? Try to..." Cassie looked around. "Shatter your water glass."

Diana nodded and looked at the glass. She held out her hand with the symbol on it and pictured it shattering. Usually that was all she had to do and it would go. Right now the glass barely moved from side to side and then Diana felt it; the same burning in her mark that she felt before. "I can't do it," Diana growled, frustrated. True she hadn't wanted her dark magic, but not being able to use magic at all made Diana feel really weak. "Every time I try my mark burns." Diana held the mark up to Cassie.

Cassie took Diana's hand in hers and looked at it. It looked exactly the same as hers and she had no idea what was going on with Diana. "You try." Diana said, kind of hoping Cassie herself wouldn't be able to do it. Maybe there was just something wrong with dark magic today for some reason.

Cassie held out her hand at the glass. A second later not only the one glass shattered but so did Cassie's glass and a couple of the windows around the house. "Damn," Cassie said looking around. "That's going to cost some money to replace."

"Cassie, not important right now."

"Oh, yeah, you're right. My powers are working fine." Cassie really wished she could tell Diana something different because of the look that came across Diana's face.

"Then... then... What's wrong with me? First the nightmare last night and now this." Diana said, tears in her eyes. Cassie put her arms around her sister and Diana cried into Cassie's shoulder.

"I don't know, sweetie, but I'm going to find out. It's all going to be okay." Cassie tried to comfort her sister, but really Cassie had no idea if it really was going to be okay.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Jake looked at the vial again wondering what he should do. His head was starting to pound from the confusion the vial was causing. He needed a break. He knew he needed a break. Maybe if he took some time away from the vial the answer would come to him. He slowly put the vial back in its place and then knew he had to get out of the house. If he stayed he would just end up looking at the vial again.

He takes out his cell phone and starts punching in a number he knows all too well. He was going to call Faye and ask Faye if she wanted to go out to the movies or something. As he was just about the push the call button he heard glass start to shatter. At first he looked around thinking it was his windows or something, but everything was fine at his house. Then he realized it came from Cassie's house.

All thought of calling Faye left his mind as he ran out of the house and next door. Once on the street he saw some of Cassie's windows were shattered. It had to be the Balcoins! Jake knew it had to be. They had attacked Cassie and Diana. Jake ran into the house expecting to see Cassie and Diana in a big fight with Ryder, Lucas, and possibly the younger two Dylan and Claire. What he saw was much different. Cassie and Diana were sitting on the couch. Cassie had Diana in her arms while the other girl was crying. Neither of the two noticed he was here.

"Hello," Jake said causing the two to jump.

"Does no one know how to knock," Cassie once again complained. "I think in the last few days the only person besides a pizza boy to knock on my door was Lucas and Ryder."

"I heard glass shattering," Jake told the two and they just stared at him. "I thought you two were in trouble. That the Balcoins attacked you."

Cassie realized what had happened and started to laugh. "Oh, that was me." Jake rolled his eyes. "It was sweet of you to run over, though."

"Why are you shattering every single window in your house? You know how much this will cost you to replace."

"I didn't mean to shatter everything. I was only going to shatter a glass." Jake waited for Cassie to explain further. "Diana's powers aren't working right. They seem to be blocked or something. We were testing to see if mine were working right." Jake looked at the two confused.

"Seriously, your powers aren't working?" Diana nodded. "I've never heard of anything like that before." Jake thought for a minute. "Did anything weird happen to you today?"

"Besides my grandmother showing up and wanting to take custody of me? No." Diana told Jake.

"The grandmother who buried Cassie alive?" Jake asked, remembering hearing about that event. The two nodded. "Well, that could cause some problems." The two nodded again already knowing that. "I think we better have a circle meeting."

Jake finally hit the call button on his cell phone and waited for Faye to pick up. "Jake, you finally done playing with your sand?" Jake rolled his eyes but choose not to comment.

"Faye I'm at Cassie's and we have kind of a situation here." Jake had to stop as Faye mumbled something about there always being some type of situation with Cassie. "Anyway..." Jake cut Faye off knowing she could probably complain about Cassie for a while and he didn't want to hear Faye complain about Dawn being Cassie's guardian again. "I'm calling a Circle meeting. Meet Cassie, Diana, and me at the boathouse as soon as you can."

"Sure," Faye answered.

"Are you with Melissa?"

"No, but I'll text her." Faye told Jake and then hung up.

"She'll meet us there." Jake told the two and then they left.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Jake, Cassie, and Diana arrived at the boathouse right before Faye. The four met outside. "I thought Melissa would be with you." Cassie said to Faye.

Faye shook her head. "No, I think she's inside with Adam." The four walked in and saw Adam and Melissa at a table with Dylan and Claire.

"What are they doing with them?" Jake asked, his anger rising at just seeing the two.

"Who are they?" Diana whispered.

"Dylan and Claire," Cassie whispered and then the four walked over to the table. "What are you two doing?"

"Calm down, Cassie. We were just hanging out with them," Melissa said, defending the two. She had gotten to like the younger Balcoins over the day.

"Well that's nice," Jake said, but you can tell by the sound of his voice he thought it was anything but that. "We have things to talk about, so why don't you two scram?"

"Yeah, go follow Lucas and Ryder around like little puppies like you always seem to do," Faye added, not really wanting the two around. She wouldn't forget that it was Claire's fault that Melissa was kidnapped.

Claire was staring at Diana, making the other girl nervous. Claire could sense the dark magic coming from the girl. "Okay, but you didn't introduce us to you friend." Claire said, thinking this might Diana, her other big sister. If it was Ryder and Lucas would be very happy with their discovery of their other Balcoin sister.

Before anyone could say anything Cassie said "She's Stephanie." Everyone looked at Cassie and Cassie gave Diana a warning look with her eyes. Diana got it. Cassie didn't want the Balcoins knowing she was back in town. "She's a friend of mine from Los Angeles from before I moved to Chance Harbor." Claire and Dylan gave Cassie a weird look. "What you think I had no friends before moving to Chance Harbor?"

"Well..." Faye started about to make a comment but Cassie stopped her by kicking Faye.

"Yeah," Diana said. "Cassie and I had some good times in Los Angeles. I missed my friend, so decided to come visit her."

"Well Stephanie, do you know Cassie's little secret?" Dylan asked looking at her.

"I believe Cassie shares all her secrets with me. Right Cas?"

"Yeah, Steph, you know there is nothing I keep from you. By the way, these are my half brother and sister I was telling you."

"This is the Diana girl you were telling me about." Diana said, pointing at Claire. She had decided to play the part of Cassie's old friend perfectly. "I thought she was our age?"

"No, this isn't Diana. She left town for a while. This is my younger sister and brother, Claire and Dylan. My daddy apparently got around. I also have two older brothers: Lucas and Ryder. I don't really get along that well with these four though, so why don't you two get out of here."

"Aw, Cassie, but we were just getting to know your friend. Are you by any chance a wit..." Dylan never got to finish his sentence because he realized 'Stephanie' wasn't paying attention to him anymore. She was looking at the door.

Cassie realized Diana was looking at the door and she looked over too. At the door was Kate Meade, who was coming their way. Why can't she leave us alone Cassie thought realizing Kate would probably blow their cover and Cassie couldn't let that happen. She would have to deal with Kate before that. Cassie was about to get up to do just that, but she never got the chance.

Diana got really angry at seeing her grandmother again. At the same time the weird feeling she was feeling all day disappeared and the itchiness in her hand symbol was gone. Her magic started to react. Building up inside of her until Diana could finally not control the dark magic anymore. It came out breaking all the lights in the boathouse. That wasn't all though. At the same time the lights broke it started to get really dark outside. First the sound of thunder came followed by a crash of lightning and then it started to pour.

"Guess that answers my question," Dylan mumbled.

As everyone was shocked by the sudden storm, even Kate, Diana was able to escape. Cassie saw her go, but so did Kate. Kate started after Diana, but Cassie got up before anyone could say anything and stopped her. "I think we need to talk," Cassie told Kate and Kate could tell by the tone in Cassie's voice that she didn't have a choice.

Cassie dragged Kate outside so they could talk without being over heard. They stood underneath roof to the boathouse so they wouldn't get wet. "Stay away from Diana," Cassie warned Kate.

"She's my granddaughter," Kate argued.

"She doesn't want anything to do with you, and until that changes you will stay away from her."

"You're going to make me?" Kate regretted the words the minute she said them. She knew how powerful this young witch was.

Cassie gave a look and really wanted to start choking Kate Meade, but she knew Diana wouldn't be happy about that. "Yes," Cassie finally answered. Cassie got closer to Kate so she could whisper into Kate's ear. "She's my sister. She's my only family. I'll do anything to protect her." Kate looked at Cassie knowing the girl was serious. Cassie would do anything to protect Diana and Kate had a feeling that included killing someone. Cassie started to walk away and walked into the down pour before she turned around to look at Kate "Besides you and I don't really have the best relationship. I still haven't forgotten about the burying alive part. Do you know how that feels? Trust me, you don't want to find out."

Cassie walked away through the rain without another word. Kate watched the girl leave and knew Cassie had just threatened her. Kate was mad for a minute and then realized she probably deserved it. She had made an enemy of a powerful witch. Her granddaughter, who was just as powerful, wanted nothing to do with her. Kate decided she would keep her distance from the two for now.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Melissa was carefully checking Claire and Dylan to see if they'd been hit by any flying glass, clucking about them like a mother hen around baby chicks. Dylan looked a little embarrassed, in Jake's opinion, but Claire was smiling shyly at Melissa. It made Jake so unsure as to whether or not he should trust them. Right now Claire looked like a harmless little girl, not a witch.

"They're fine." Melissa informed Adam, who nodded.

Faye was looking around at the damage. "I have to hand it to her, Diana can do better than your exploding drink tricks." She said, looking at Adam. He refused to respond. "This'll take a lot to pay off."

Outside the storm was dying down. Unfortunately, Lucas and Ryder strode in with furious expressions.

"What happened? What was that surge of magic from?" Lucas demanded as soon as he reached Claire and Dylan.

Claire looked at her feet, mumbling, "A friend of Cassie's."

Ryder shook her roughly. "Diana?"

"N-No, Stephanie!" Dylan said, trying to pull his sister away from Ryder. "She freaked out or something and she's a witch too."

"And you let her get away?" Lucas looked like he was ready to hit someone, preferably Claire or Dylan. "She might be important!"

Claire looked like she wanted run. "You can always find her at Cassie's house, can't you?"

"She got scared, you said?" Lucas asked. Dylan nodded. "Well, it had to have had something to do with you, so I doubt we'll be able to get near her. Blake will have her barricaded in."

"We really should have killed you." Ryder hissed unkindly. Claire shivered as he raised his hand, ready to hit her.

"Stop it!"

Melissa jumped in front of the two younger Balcoins, her magic pushing Ryder's hand away before it could hit her or Claire. Her eyes were burning with something that the Circle had never seen before, except maybe Faye. Faye knew Melissa might be quiet and innocent, but she had a motherly instinct that rivalled those of some who actually had children. Faye could still remember the day that some man had been trying to hurt a little girl in a mall. Melissa had noticed them in the corner and then suddenly the man had been pinned to the ceiling. The police hadn't been able to pry the little girl off Melissa, and Melissa wouldn't let her go until she knew the girl would be safe.

"What's the matter with you?" Melissa asked, glaring at Ryder and Lucas. "You'd hit a kid? Seriously?"

"She let Cassie's friend get away!" Ryder protested, getting the odd feeling that Melissa was scolding him and not liking it at all.

"How could either of them know that Stephanie should be followed?" Melissa asked. "After all, they're supposed to be looking for Diana, not Stephanie."

Lucas and Ryder grudgingly admitted that Melissa was right, and only then did the furious witch step out of the way and allow Dylan and Claire to be led out. As Claire passed she pressed her phone number in the girl's hand, and gave Dylan a quick hug.

When they were gone Melissa rejoined the others. "They're trouble." She said. Her voice had an undertone that sounded almost menacing.

"I know." said Jake. "Trust me, I do."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie entered her house, listening for any sounds inside. "Diana?"

She heard quiet sniffles coming from one of the rooms, and finally found Diana in the living room. Her sister was curled up on the couch with a blanket, arms wrapped firmly around her chest like she was shielding herself from the world, or maybe it from her. Cassie ventured forward cautiously.

"Diana?"

"Stephanie was the only name you could come up with?" Diana joked, voice wavering.

"Old soap opera my mom used to watch." Cassie explained shortly. "Diana, what happened?"

Diana shrugged, seeming to pull farther within herself. "It was just… we were happy enough, and then the Balcoins were there and suddenly I was Stephanie and pretending again. I'm scared of them. And when my Grandma came and tried to take me away I thought that my heart was going to explode, it was beating so fast. I was so a-afraid, Cassie…" Diana stopped. The words stuck in her throat, each one hurting as she forced it out. "But the fear took me over, and it made into a monster. I ran away because of that feeling. I thought it was gone, that I'd found myself."

"Diana, you're not evil." Cassie said. She was pleading for her sister to stay, for her not to run again. Suddenly the promises of yesterday seemed thin and flimsy.

Diana glanced at Cassie through tear-rimmed eyes. "Maybe I'm not, but this sure as hell isn't who I am. I knew who I was, and now she's gone again. This place suffocates me and makes me something I'm not."

Cassie was shaking, so afraid her sister would leave. She didn't dare say a word.

"Cassie, please say something." Diana said. "What's wrong?"

"You can't leave." Cassie begged. "Please, you can't leave!"

Diana opened her arms, and Cassie willing dove into them, nearly crushing Diana. "I'm not leaving, even if I'm so lost." Diana whispered. "Not leaving town… just leaving here."

"What?"

"I called Melissa." admitted Diana. "She said I could stay as long as I wanted. It's just that… I think being around you makes the magic stronger, and I don't want that. I can't leave town, but I think maybe I should stay somewhere a little farther away from you."

Hurt, Cassie fell back on the couch, watching as Diana walked away. "You're leaving now?"

"Yes." Diana picked up two duffel bags from near the front door. "I packed before you came."

"Okay."

Cassie wanted to say something, ask Diana to stay, but all that came out as Diana was at the door was, "How did you get your magic to start working again? It wasn't before."

"I don't know." Diana said. "But I wish it had stayed the way it was."

When the door slammed Cassie let out a sob of despair, trying to remind herself that it wasn't forever.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Dylan and Claire walked back into the motel room, well fed and pretty darn happy despite the days events.

"What took you two so long?" Lucas asked, his voice set in a menacing tone

"Calm down guys, we stayed behind to help clean up the mess." Dylan said instinctively taking a step forward to put Claire behind him.

"I doubt they want two snot-nosed kids hanging around." Ryder said

"You're wrong, Melissa wants us around."

"Who?" Lucas demanded.

"You know, the girl who stopped you from hurting Claire."

"This is ridiculous! You're not to hang around them any more. Never again, I forbid it!" Lucas said

"And who says you can stop us?" Claire asked defiantly, Lucas took a few steps towards

her, but Dylan pushed her back and stood fully in front of her, sending a warning push with

magic.

"Lucas, back off. Dylan, Claire, it's not a good idea to hang out with them. They don't trust us

just as much as we don't trust them. It could be seen as us breaking the treaty. Espionage or

worse. We need our sisters on our side, but for now we need to back off, and the last thing we

need to be doing is making buddy-buddy with them."

"It's too late for that Ryder. Melissa's helping get us enrolled in school."

"You don't need school."

"No, but I want to be there. Please, Ryder? She bought us school supplies too, and I really, really, want to go. We might be here for a while and it gives me something to do while we

bide our time." Dylan pleaded, knowing it might not work.

"I'll think about it. But you two need to keep a distance from the Circle. It's not a good idea

for you to hang out with them."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Pacing back and forth on the beach, he had been doing that a lot lately. He would say it was his new nervous habit but blowing things up seems to have already taken that spot. His mind had been reeling ever since the scene at the boathouse, Diana was more powerful than any of them had thought. Nearly a year ago she hadn't been able to stop the rain storm Faye had created but now...wow, she was creating full out storms that turned the skies black and caused the worst thunder and lightning storm chance harbour had ever seen. And he was awed by it, he shouldn't have been, he should be worried, worried about the power Diana was now tapping into and how it must be affecting her. He had know her her whole life and he knew it would be tearing her apart, but he wasn't worried, he didn't even know how to describe the feeling he got just before the storm started. Adam was sure that if anyone had been watching him they would have been suspicious of him, or even more so if it was Faye. But then that was Faye always getting herself into trouble.

If he had to describe it, he would have said it was like an electric shock. Not a bad feeling but like a bolt of electricity going through his whole body, reaching the tips of his fingers and toes. The feeling is what had drawn him back here, he wasn't sure why but he had thought the skull had less power over him but since the storm it seemed like it was drawing him back. Maybe it was the storm, maybe dark magic recharged it. But then he would have to stop Cassie, Diana and the other Balcoin's using dark magic to get away from the skull to get rid of it's hold on him.

But maybe he didn't want to get rid of the power the skull had over him and gave him. What was he before he was given this power? Old reliable Adam, he would help anyone with their problems but when it comes to the real issues he's useless. But with this magic he wasn't useless he could be whoever he wanted to be and do whatever he wanted to do. He had no limit, okay so he had to be careful that the rest of the circle and the Balcoin's don't find out but really how would they know the true extent of his powers before the circle was bound.

Finally noticing his surroundings again he saw that the sky was black not because of a storm but because so much time had passed since he had gotten to the beach, he hadn't really been paying attention to the time or anything around him. And as he turned around her realised that was a mistake. Stood not too far from him was Faye and she was watching him with that look in her eyes that told him she was trying to figure something out,

"So this is where your secret hiding place is." she said, looking around as Adam finally stopped pacing, keeping a large distance between himself and Faye,

"Go away, Faye." he told her trying to keep his cool, he had no idea what would happen if he got too annoyed and Faye had always been able to push his buttons. Faye also hadn't noticed the lump of sand that covered the skull and Adam didn't want her finding it, she probably wouldn't ever leave him alone if she found it. Faye let a small smirk form on her lips before answering,

"I'll give you a trade." she told him "If you give me an answer to what is going on with you, I'll leave."

"No, Faye." Adam replied quickly he wasn't in the mood for her games "Leave now."

"Or what?" she asked but it was the wrong thing to say. The wind started blowing forcefully around them and Adam's eyes had closed,

"What the hell are you doing?" she shouted to him over the howling of the wind, this seemed to knock him out of his trance and as his eyes flashed open the wind stopped.

"Adam?" Faye asked slightly tentatively as Adam looked up at her, suddenly he was stood in front of her and Faye saw that his eyes had gone completely black.


	4. Accident

**Plotline writers – Forcystus5, xleamalfoyx, Coralinas, thefallenloveoflife,**

**Writers – Coralinas, Forcystus5, CharmedMilliE, ilove2dance, luisa Mendoza, thefallenloveoflife, witch-witha-B, TtylerMaria**

**Editors – flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B**

**Graphic Designers – xleamalfoyx, Charlene F.**

**Twitter Account – ImaGleekBaby, TSC_Project**

**Tumblr Account – witch-witha-B,**

**link:** **http (colon) (forward slash) (forward slash) .com(forward slash)**

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**Sorry I have to make the links look so confusing, but if I didn't they wouldn't show up. Please follow and subscribe to the two accounts, and help support us!**

**Disclaimer: We don't own The Secret Circle.**

Episode 4 – "Accident"

"Adam, what are you doing?" Faye asked quietly, he was still stood in front of her just staring his eyes completely black. Not getting an answer, Faye stepped back unknowingly in the direction of the skull. Knowing that Faye was getting too close to the skull Adam lost it, he threw his arm out planning to push her away from the skull but the amount of power the skull had given him sent Faye flying across the beach and into one of the rock outcropping before she fell to the ground. Adam then started to walk over to Faye who was slowly moving to try and get up through the intense pain she was feeling all over.

Faye swore she had blacked out at some point in between hitting the outcropping of rocks and hitting the ground, she took a quick assessment of what hurt the most and moved slowly to try and get up. When she looked up she saw Adam moving closer, making her panic. She had no idea what was wrong with him and what he was capable of anymore. Adam carried on moving closer nothing in his face changing, his expression was blank and his eyes had still not changed from the black they had changed to not minutes ago.

Once Faye was finally able to sit up she saw that Adam was too close for her to get away especially with the pain that she was in. She knew that Adam could probably see the pain and the fear in her eyes, but right now she didn't care she just wanted to get away from here before something else happened. She didn't risk saying anything that would set him off so she watched helplessly as Adam came closer and closer to where she was sat. She knew in any physical or magical fights she probably couldn't beat Adam his magic had been off the scale lately and she didn't exactly study martial arts.

When Adam was finally stood above her Faye started weighing out her options, why had she not told anyone she was coming here sometimes her own stubbornness pissed her off. She couldn't get her phone out without Adam seeing and she had already ruled out magic and physically punching him there was nothing she could do. She had no options left and no way out.

But before she could think it through further Adam's eyes changed back to their usual comforting blue and automatically filled with worry,

"Faye are you okay?" he asked as he crouched down beside her so he was at the same eye level as Faye.

"Of course I'm okay." she told him not knowing what was going on and if he remembered what he had done or not. He then stood up offering her a hand to help her up but Faye stood herself up wincing slightly at the pain that was in her body.

Again Adam looked at her his eyes showing worry, he had no idea what had happened to her. He knew Faye wasn't the clumsy sort of person but he didn't have the faintest idea of what had happened since she surprised him a few minutes before. He was unsurprised at the fact she didn't take his hand, she had always been stubborn, he also didn't try to ask her what had happened or if she was okay again,

"So...did you want me to give you a ride home?" he asked as he was sure she had come alone and he knew from Faye's whining that her mum didn't like her driving the car. He again was not surprised when Faye shook her head,

"I'm fine, I borrowed Melissa's car." she told him and Adam could have sworn she was backing away from him. What could have happened to make Faye act like this around him, it probably had something to do with why he was getting such a headache all of a sudden. He paused when the weirdest thing happened, he was simply looking at Faye when she seemed to fly back into the rock outcropping.

But when he blinked Faye was still stood in front of him, not as close but still in front of him. He shook his head slightly wondering what the hell was going on, was that what had happened when his mind seemingly blacked out? Was Faye more injured than he had originally thought?

"Faye..." was the only thing he managed to say before getting another flashback, he felt a flash of anger then saw his hand fly out in the direction of Faye and watched as she flew into the rock cropping.

But yet again when he blinked Faye was moving towards the parking lot where she had obviously parked Melissa's car before coming to find him. He had to stop her and he had to know what was going on, what had happened. Were the flashbacks real or was it the skull playing with his mind?

"Faye, wait a second!" he almost shouted heading up towards the parking lot where Faye was quickly getting into Melissa's car.

Before he could say or do anything Faye started to drive off and head back to town. Adam let out a large sigh and looked back towards the beach where the skull was buried. If that thing had made him hurt Faye he wouldn't just hide it, he would destroy it.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie woke up to her alarm and groaned as she realized she was yet again waking up alone, and as depressing as it was to go from Diana all the time to being utterly alone, she also realized they'd jumped head first into deep waters, when they really needed to ease back into seeing each other so often. She understood fully why Diana would want her space, though it hurt that she was blaming her for the outburst.

It was the first day back at school and Cassie was less than stoked, but she was hoping that maybe Diana had had time to think things through and they could talk about what was going on. This whole situation should have been happy and fun, which it really had started out as, but it ended up just being much too fast.

Heading to her dresser Cassie stared at her drawers. She normally didn't fret over her appearances, but today was different. She moved around her different shirts before giving up and heading to the closet and scanning what she had in there. After a few moments consideration she picked a simple Navy blue quarter sleeved dress, and headed off to the shower, going over in her head the conversation she hoped to have with Diana, that is if she was willing to talk.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

The smell of bacon wafted into Diana's nose, waking her up. Smiling, she stretched and sat up as Melissa walked into the room.

"Morning sleepy." Melissa joked.

"Morning." Diana smiled back, it felt good to wake up in a house that felt so care free and happy, a house where she woke up to delicious smells, and a house where she didn't wake up to her sister and be reminded that things were so, so wrong. She felt she needed this escape.

"So, you ready to go back to school?" Melissa asked in an annoyed tone that told Diana she defiantly wasn't.

"Ha! Did I want to leave the open road? No. Not at all. Grant pulled me into the clouds. I spent the entire summer learning to enjoy the view and soft wind in my hair. Now I have to return to a boring classroom?"

"I'm so jealous of your summer! Well... No I'm not. I had a fantastic summer here with Faye Adam, and even Cassie. I just wonder what the sunset looks like in other states."

"They look different everywhere you go. Setting against so many different and beautiful horizon lines."

"Sounds breathtaking."

"It is, but enough about me; tell me how your summer went?"

"There wasn't much to it. I spent most my days with Faye at the boat house, when Adam had down time he'd sit with us and steal French fries. Adam and I spent some time in the forest identifying different plants after I found a journal my mom kept of the different plants and herbs in chance harbor. Faye and I used our individual magic for mischief, convinced bouncers and bartenders we had shown them our legal ID, helped play ourselves up to randomers in the bar to take us out dancing. It was really fun."

"As much as I love how I spent my summer, I have to admit, I'm a bit jealous I missed out on that." Melissa laughed a bit at Diana's words; it was funny to her that with Diana's summer she'd be even a little bit jealous.

From downstairs Mr. Glaser suddenly yelled "Girls! Breakfast!"

"Come on hippie chick, get dressed and let's go!" The girls smiled at each other as Diana thought to herself how perfect this morning was, and how much she had missed Melissa.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Adam opened his eyes, blinking. He couldn't remember what had happened yesterday, or even the past week. For s second he was completely and utterly lost, and then he remembered; he'd found the skull and brought it back home. It was taking over him. For whatever reason, the last thought was the strongest and it had never really occurred to him before. It was taking over him. His life, his thoughts, his actions…

Then he remembered Faye. She had been talking to him, and suddenly he'd blacked out. When he came to, she was crumpled on the ground, like she'd been thrown at the rock outcropping. He could remember how terrified she as and he wasn't sure why. All he knew was that he had obviously done it, or the skull had. The magic had reached from the ground when she stepped too close, keeping her away.

Adam rolled out of bed and grabbed his cell phone, dialing wildly. He waited with bated breath, praying that Faye would answer.

"This is Faye Chamberlain. If you're getting this message it means that I'm busy or that I hate you and there's no chance in hell that I'll pick up. So… leave a message or go away."

Adam growled in frustration, hanging up. He was tempted to leave a message, but he had a feeling that Faye wouldn't answer if she heard his voice. She was probably terrified of him.

Adam was about to go to her house and try to fix whatever he'd done when his dad appeared in the doorway. "Adam?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you headed to school soon?" ever since he'd gotten the skull Adam had been different, and Ethan had noticed. He eyed his son carefully, judging every reaction. "You have about ten minutes to get there, which is just enough to get you there in time."

"What?"

Ethan repeated what he had said carefully. "So," he concluded, "You should probably leave now. You know, because you'll be late if you don't."

Adam nodded, reluctantly grabbing his bag and passing his dad, heading to the car. He would have to catch up to Faye at school.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Jake opened up his eyes and looked around. He was thankful that this time he had remember to put his vial away and didn't fall asleep at his desk. He picked up his cell phone and decided to call Faye. He needed a break from all the research and Faye was the perfect distraction.

The phone rang a few times and finally Faye picked up. "Hello," Faye mumbled. Jake found it weird that she hadn't made some stupid comment about his vial.

"Hey, how's my favourite girl?" Faye usually liked it when he said stuff like that, but this time was different.

"What do you want, Jake?"

"Well I thought we could hang out today. Go to a movie or somewhere less lame like my bedroom. We could fool around a bit." Jake offered and he didn't think Faye would refuse. Faye never refused that offer.

"I have school today." Jake forgot all about school since he didn't go anymore.

"Oh, okay. I forgot. Maybe after school?"

"I don't know," Faye mumbled and hung up. Jake thought the conversation was weird. Faye showed no interested in coming over after school or cutting school to come see him. Jake shrugged it off because he figured it was just Faye being Faye.

Jake looked around trying to figure out what he could do today. The entire Circle would be in school, so he couldn't hang out with any of them. He hadn't spoken to his old high school friends for two years and most of them were away at college. The only other friends he ever had were the witch hunters and that wasn't an option since most of them were dead and the ones who were alive wanted him dead. Jake then knew what he would be doing that day. It would be another day of researching on his vial, leaving him plenty of time to spend with Faye in the afternoon.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye hung up on Jake and slid her phone onto her bedside table. Although she had told Jake she was going to school, she really wasn't planning on it. Most of the time when she moved it hurt and she had barely gotten any sleep, she hated feeling this weak and didn't want the others to see her as such. She was just grateful her mum had gone away for a conference and she hadn't seen Faye when she had come in last night, she had probably looked a right state. Getting out of bed was trouble moving her right wrist hurt a bit but when she moved to push herself up she hissed at the pain that shot through her arm, putting pressure on her right hand or arm was out of the question. Once she had manoeuvred herself to be able to get out of bed she also found putting pressure on her left ankle wasn't the best idea either, she was going to be wearing flats for a while.

Padding into her bathroom with a small limp, she went to the sink intent on seeing how bad the damage from the beach had been. Adam had already called her three times this morning and it was only 7:30 but she hadn't answered any of the calls. Something weird was going on with him but for now she was leaving it, looking in the mirror she was grateful that there were no obvious bruises, cut or anything else on her face and chest. She knew from getting changed she had some minor bruising on her legs so that ruled out skirts, shorts or dresses. Removing her top she moved in front of the mirror and took note of the large bruise that covered her right shoulder, though she wasn't surprised to see it there after the pain she had gone through getting changed the night before and the pain she had gotten when she rolled onto her right side. There was also bruising near her ribs but if Faye was honest with herself everything hurt. Other than that she had a few small bruises on her arms, side and back that could easily be covered up,

"Not like Jake would notice." She muttered to herself before attempting to change. If anyone from the Circle came over to find out why she wasn't at school she wanted all the bruises hidden from sight. Oh and they would come, none of them could just leave things alone Faye included. She wouldn't admit it to the others but a part of her wished that she had left the Adam thing alone and focused on the fact that Diana was back, the Circle was whole and the fact that Jake wanted to marry that stupid vial.

Faye just wished that Jake would figure out what it was and get over it already, they had no idea what it was and his granddad was crazy anyway so it probably was just a vial of dirt that would do nothing to help them and just waste time, oh and ruin her relationship with Jake.

_Maybe that was his grandfather's plan_ Faye thought before quickly discarding the idea. Jake's grandfather hadn't even known about Faye and Jake and she was sure Jake wouldn't have started confiding in him after one visit that had not ended on the best note. Letting a small sigh escape her lips she finally made her way back into her bedroom unsure of what to do now, it wasn't like she could call anyone and ask them to come over. Everyone would be at school soon and Jake would be suspicious if she asked him to come over, not that he would come alone, he was attached to that vial.

Maybe someone could prank him by super gluing it to his hand. Then he would never be without it. He could sleep with it and shower with it, even go to the toilet with it. Faye then rolled her eyes at her own idea, now she was just sounding childish but anyone else in her situation would be acting like her, right? Then again who would be in the same situation? Her boyfriend was getting obsessed with a jar of sand or dirt that apparently had magical qualities that would stop the other Balcoins or something like that.

Letting a small sigh escape her lips she made her way downstairs planning to get some food, it wasn't too bad getting around the house. Her legs may have been bruised but they weren't that sore just achy, her shoulder was the worst. She hissed a few times when she had to grab things from the cupboards but was able to get herself breakfast without too much pain.

Faye lounged on the sofa and ate her breakfast while flicking through the TV channels but quickly got bored, day time TV was rubbish in term time and Faye had always gotten bored easily. Having time to think while she finished her breakfast Faye decided that she couldn't just let what happened with Adam slide. She needed to know what was going on with him and why he had done what he had. Putting her bowl in the sink she slowly headed back upstairs and got out her laptop planning on doing some research to see if she could find out what was going on with Adam. After a few hours of searching Faye gave up, most of the results she found were telling her that a demon had possessed Adam which wasn't right, they knew what demon possessions were like. Obviously she wasn't going to find the answer online but before she could think any further she heard her phone ringing and turned to pick it up and see who was calling.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie walked into class right before the bell rang and took her seat besides Diana. She smiled at her sister, but the two didn't have time to talk before class. Cassie found herself wishing she had gotten there earlier. The rest of the Circle, except for Jake and Faye, were already in the chairs behind them. Adam was staring at the window and appeared to be nervous about something. Melissa was trying to get Adam's attention, wanting to talk before class start, but that ended when the new teacher arrived.

The teacher was tall and had really dark hair which he combed back. "Good morning students," He said. "I am your new teacher for the class of Folklore. My name is Nicholas Sanders and as long as you do well in this class you may be on first name basis with me," He added with a quick smile.

The teacher scanned the class and Cassie couldn't help but notice that his brown eyes stayed on the Circle members longer than any other member of the class. A bad feeling formed in the pit of Cassie's stomach as her eyes met his. For some reason she had the feeling this teacher knew things, but she decided to shrug off the thought. There was no way this teacher had any knowledge of them. She must be imagining things. Then his eyes drifted toward Sally when she raised her hand.

"Yes miss…?" Nicholas stopped as he realized he had no clue what the girls name was.

"Oh, I'm Sally Matthew, Mr. Sanders," She said briefly. "I was just wondering what exactly this class will be about."

The teacher smiled. "Well, if you are looking for a definition, folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales, stories, tall tales, and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It can also be described as the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared." Nicholas stopped as he looked around as the students absorbed in what he said. Once again his eyes drifted to the Circle.

"However," He continued after a moment, "no matter how much you try to narrow it down folklore is always a broad area of study and as it is not an exact science a lot of its topics are up for discussion, its meaning might depend on someone's point of view. Therefore, in this class you are going to have to think a lot and make your personal conclusions. I will teach you information the way it is but an important point of the class is to analyze the themes by yourselves."

A student chose that moment to interrupt. "But what will these fake legends be of any use for us in the future?" He asked without trying to hide his annoyance.

Cassie rolled her eyes as she thought of the irony of that comment. In this town paying close attention in this class was probably the best idea, but no one knew that this town was full of legends. Cassie found herself wishing she had paid more attention to a similar class they had back in her old high school. Maybe if she had participated more on her own folklore class before coming to Chance Harbor things would have turn out better for her and her Circle. After all, she is a legend come true; being a witch and all.

The teacher blankly held the gaze of the student for a moment before answering. "Many people think that way, true enough, but I can guarantee you that you would be surprised. Most folklore tales aren't true in every bit of detail but almost every one of them has a moral lesson; lessons from which you can learn a lot, if that answer your question. Now, who wants to guess our first topic?" He asked the class

When no one answered the professor sighed and started writing in the board. When he was done Cassie involuntarily held her breath. She looked at Diana, whose eyes were widened in surprise. Professor Nicholas turned around and Cassie could have sworn she saw him smirk for a second.

A smile came on his face when he was done writing and his gaze held Cassie's for a while before she looked away. Every member of the Circle shared a look as Nicholas Sanders started to talk. "That's right; we are going to talk about witchcraft."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Nicholas Sanders was busy writing on the board and when he was done he turned back to the class. "Now, take out your notebooks and write down the proper definition of magic and a couple of descriptions." He pointed at the definition he had just written down.

Cassie raised an eyebrow and laughed to herself. The last thing her and her Circle needed was the proper definition of magic, but she did what she was told and so did the other members of her Circle.

"Now, magic is the influencing of events by supernatural means," Mr. Sanders recited. "Magic can often be split into dark and light, though depending on the situation, can also be neutral," He added and noticed Diana flinch. He looked at her and Diana lowered her head. Cassie looked at her sister hoping she was okay with the topic. It truly was a tricky topic for the two of them right now. Sanders continued his lesson as though he hadn't noticed Diana's reaction. "Also, magic is both a genetic heredity and a studied technique that connects a person to the elements and forces of nature in order to practice sorcery."

As the class progressed the Circle members were growing more and more suspicious and more and more worried. They kept looking at each other and were trying not to draw suspicion onto themselves. They all just kind of wanted to get out now. This teacher was making them uncomfortable and Cassie was really starting to believe he knew something.

The new teacher started by talking about the different versions of the origins of witchcraft. He explained that some ancient people attributed it as a gift from their polytheistic gods that is passed down from generations. Other cultures claimed that the power came from nature and their shamans could tap into it as they connect with it and the spirit world. He also added that on more recent eras, people have claimed to use drugs that provoke hallucinations to have premonitions, which could also be described as a branch of witchcraft called Divination.

The Circle had to agree the class was interesting, especially Cassie and Diana, as they knew that their separate bloodlines came from both the origins of Dark Magic and the origins of Light magic. The thing was that every time he emphasized something important about magic or witches he glanced at one of them and they could tell he was trying to judge their reactions. It just kept the thought in the Circles mind that this guy somehow knew something. They tried to stay reaction less, but it was getting really hard.

When he talked about the drugs, he named a few but the one that caught their attention was Devil Spirit. Diana and Melissa quickly exchanged worried glances and that did not go unnoticed by the teacher. "Any knowledge on the subject you two?" Sanders pointed them out and everyone turned to look at them.

"No," They mumbled and Diana added "What was the name of that stuff, Devil something?" Just for good measure.

"Oh, too bad. Firsthand knowledge would have been interesting." The class turned back as Sanders went on talking a little about modern age Voodoo and not for the first time did the Circle wondered if he knew the truth about them as they could see similarities between his teachings on the subject and what they have faced against.

"So," Professor Nicholas continued. "The main difference between magic and Voodoo and of its practitioners is that, from a folklore-oriented point of view, magic that comes from true witches is genetically inherited, while Voodoo is not an inherent ability but a religious system practiced by various normal humans that involves ritualistic ceremonies that have magical effects. A big cultural center of Voodoo is New Orleans."

A red headed girl raised her hand. "Yes?" The teacher asked.

"It is just that I have always heard a divided opinion about Voodoo," The girl said. "Some people say it works perfectly well while others say that those practitioners are all frauds. Do you know which answer is it?"

As he smiled the Circle was wondering if the reason he knew so much was because maybe he was a Voodoo practitioner like Callum and Lee. It would make sense and maybe he knew about them because of Callum. Maybe this was Callum's way of getting back into their lives. As the thought slowly crossed all their minds they looked at each other and then turned to Melissa, who knew Callum the best. Melissa shook her head knowing what they were silently asking her, but she did not know if this guy knew Callum.

"Both answers are correct, actually," He said. "Though, that also depends on your definition of the supernatural. I have come to realize from my studies that most of the ingredients that are used by the practitioners, such as herbs, totems, and the famous dolls have side effects that if triggered properly have been able to impress and/or scare people so much over the centuries that they have come to believe it is magic and those believes are usually kept in the family. Many times, however, it has been confirmed that the more the intended target believes in the supernatural, the stronger the effect will be because the mind can turn against you if you are not careful." Sanders stopped for a minute and once again looked at the Circle before he continued.

"And that is the one unspoken truth about folklore, students," He stated. "Religious or Atheist, scientist or ignorant everyone is bound to believe in something one way or another. Even if they don't take it seriously in public they could easily dedicate their time and interest to it in private. Even if Atheists don't believe in God, many still believe in things like fate, aliens, demons, ghosts, not to mention traditional superstitions, wherever they keep it quiet or not."

There was a contemplative silence after he finished. While he paused everyone was considering what he said and most had to agree that the teacher's logic was sound.

Nicholas smiled. "From your expressions I can see that some of you agree with my previous statement but, while I am glad for that, remember I said that in this class I want you to come to your own conclusions. What I tell you will be important to pass the class but in the tests and projects if you don't agree with my view and can defend your own well enough you will still get a good grade. I am also trying to teach you to be open minded. After all, what is an absolute truth for someone can be a dreadful lie for someone else."

"But back to your question," He said looking at the red headed girl realizing he had not actually answered her. "You could say that most of what a Voodoo practitioner does can't really be describe as magic by most people so in that sense they are frauds but that doesn't mean their work can't do anything that is not easily explained by science if the practitioners refuse to reveal their secrets," The girl nodded and wrote down some notes.

"Now," He continued, "For those who are a little more sceptic, if you want an example, there was a science show that studied voodoo shamans. They said they made people their zombie slave by blowing some powder into their face. The ingredients of the powder included puffer fish poison known to cause paralysis and death. Taken in small amounts the person could feel enough paralysis that the heart would appear stopped. In Haiti, a doctor said he treated a patient for a broken leg that he knew had died years earlier and the patient said that he was under the spell of a shaman and died but was resurrected by the shaman and made his slave. It was then only recently that the shaman had died and he was freed."

"So, a zombie is seemed to be mostly hypnotic control of a subject by using the puffer fish poison and the weak-minded state of their subconscious to instil the belief that they died and were resurrected," He explained.

There was a sudden silence in the classroom. Some were torn between looking disgusted and interested while other were outright horrified. The teacher then search for something in his bag and it took all the self-control of the Circle not to let out a collective gasp when he took the object out. They looked at each other worried and most of them put their heads down not even wanting to see the object.

"Can someone tell me what this is?" He asked while showing the object to the class. No one answered so he looked at the Circle again, but they were all looking down at their desks avoiding eye contact.

"You four have been awfully quiet," The teacher said bluntly causing everyone to look at them. "Do you find my class not interesting enough?" He had a small smirk on his face when he asked them. "Well, what about it? Am I boring you?"

Cassie looked up to face the guy. "No sir." She mumbled and then looked away as her Circle mumbled agreements. In her head Cassie was wondering 'Who the heck is this guy? A Voodoo priest? A Witch hunter? Just a crazy teacher and this are just some frighteningly accurate guesses on witchcraft?'

"Then what is it? Why are you four so quiet?" The Circle stared at him not knowing what to say and finally Nicholas left it alone and decided to continue with his lesson.

"Well, for those who don't know, this is called a Sway," He said while looking closely at the four friends looking for any reaction, but they refused to give any. "According to folklore, this is a magical artefact of unconfirmed origin. Some say it was made by Voodoo priests while others say it was made nearly 2 millennia ago, not so long after Christianity took control of the Mediterranean area, in order to fight witches because they saw them as minions of the devil and other lesser demons found in Christian Demonology."

He smirked and continued. "At any rate, the few written records that can be found about this object tell of the same result, that it can be used to steal a portion of a witch's power to transfer it to a normal human, which would then give the witches enemies enough power to subdue them."

He stared at the four Circle members again and Diana fought the urge to swallow, the memory of Luke trying to torch her flashing through her mind. Adam frowned, wondering again if his dad actually made the deal with the Witch hunters that got half their parents killed. This class was starting to bring back bad memories for the entire Circle and it took self-control to just not jump out and run out of the class.

The professor looked at the watch in the wall. "The class is almost over," He informed them. "Your first assignment will be to write an essay about your favourite folkloric topic. It can be about any culture around the globe but it has to exist already and you have to describe why it is your favourite," He explained. "If you don't have a favourite one, then search until you find one good enough to be willing to write about it. I believe there are some in the Library," He added.

The bell rang and the Circle hurried to leave. Even though they had been towards the back of the class they were the first to leave wanting to get as much distance between them and this new teacher as possible. If they would have turned around, they would have noticed Nicholas chuckle and put the Sway back in his bag.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie, Diana, Adam, and Melissa couldn't get out of that class fast enough. They didn't stop walking until they felt they were far enough away from that teacher. They looked at one another not wanting to say a word. Finally it was Diana who was the first to speak up. "Okay, I'm just going to say it. That guy knows something."

"But how?" Melissa asked and turned around to make sure no one was listening but the four had already walked out of the building and the next class had already started. Melissa realized they were all supposed to be in class, but this was more important anyway.

"I don't know," Cassie said. "It just felt like he knew. Did you see the way he looked at us anytime he said something?" The rest of the Circle all nodded their agreements. "Where's Faye anyway? I mean I know she's skips sometimes, but the first day of school, really."

Diana and Melissa looked at each other. Both had no idea where their friend could be. Adam for his part was looking nervous and was trying to avoid eye contact with the three girls. "I don't know. Maybe she's with Jake." Melissa suggested.

"I'm going to call him anyway. I'm calling a Circle meeting now." Cassie took out her cell phone and dialled Jake's familiar number.

"Shouldn't you be in class?" Jake answered with a laugh.

"Yeah, well something weird happened. I'm calling a Circle meeting at the abandoned house now."

"Now?" Jake questioned confused. He knew something had to be wrong if Cassie was calling a Circle meeting in the middle of the school day. "Was it the Balcoins? Did they do something?"

"No, it was... Well it's kind of hard to explain over the phone. We'll tell you later." Cassie told Jake. "By the way is Faye with you?"

"No," Jake said. "Shouldn't she be with you in class?"

"She's not here." Cassie could almost hear Jake panicking on the other end.

"She said she would be in class." Jake was really worried.

"Alright, calm down. Faye cuts all the time. I'll have Melissa call her. I'm sure it's no big deal." Jake took a deep breath and realized Cassie was right. There was nothing to worry about.

Cassie hung up and looked at Melissa who already had her phone out having heard Cassie's conversation. The phone rang a few times before Faye answered. "What?" Faye mumbled not really wanting to talk to anyway.

"We're having a Circle meeting at the abandoned house now." Melissa told Faye not even bothering to ask where she was.

"Why? Don't tell me it's more freaking Balcoin family drama we're being pulled into." Faye complained over the other end. "I don't really want to hear about evil siblings or Jake's stupid sand he wants to date instead of me anymore."

"It's not family drama and you don't have a choice. Get to the abandoned house as soon as you can." Melissa hung up before Faye could say anything else. "She'll be there."

Adam looked like he wanted to run, but once again the three girls didn't seem to notice or care that he was jumpy. "Did she sound okay?" Adam asked causing the three to look at him.

"Yeah, why?" Melissa asked.

"No, reason," Adam said quickly and then shut up. He wished he hadn't asked anything.

"Well let's go." Diana said and the four left the school to head to the meeting.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie was settled on the couch, chatting quietly with Diana when Faye finally showed up. Truthfully, Cassie had been hoping Faye would take a long time, since Cassie wanted to be able to spend more time with her sister. She was so lonely at her house. Sometimes she thought she could hear noises, like her Grandma talking. She just wished that for once there could be a real, living person in that house.

Cassie prepared for some snarky comment from Faye, but there was nothing. Faye was pale, and Cassie detected a limp as she took a seat by herself. Jake looked disappointed.

"Where were you?" he demanded, still looking a little pouty. Cassie held back her giggles at Jake's consternation from being rejected. "You said you would be at school."

"I was sick." Faye said shortly. Jake shifted closer to her on the couch, and she shifted away. "No big deal."

"You definitely look a little off." Adam agreed.

"So, should we start?" Cassie stood. "Something's… something is off about our new teacher."

"New teacher?" Faye seemed remotely interested.

Cassie nodded. "Yeah, of Folklore or something…"

"I gather that I missed some weird witchy vibe moments, then?"

"Oh, yeah." Diana and Melissa chimed together. Melissa continued, "He knew a ton of things about witches, and he kept looking at us. It was so obvious that he knew."

"Is that so?" Faye said. Jake slid closer, catching her by surprise. He took her hand, and Cassie's eyebrows went up when Faye flinched. The dark-haired witch tried to pull back, tears coming to her eyes when she did. Only Adam and Diana seemed to notice, along with Cassie.

Cassie continued, "Yeah. So… do we confront him?"

Melissa shrugged, pulling the shawl she wore tighter around her shoulders. "I don't know. He could be anything. He could be another witch hunter, or even something supernatural."

"We could always use persuasion to find out what he is…" Jake suggested. It was Diana this time that noticed how Faye flinched when Jake laid an arm across her shoulders. She bit down on her lip, hunching her shoulders forward so he wasn't touching her.

"Something wrong?" Jake asked Faye, as though he'd heard Diana's thoughts. Faye shook her head. "Are you sure? You feeling sick?"

"I'm fine." Faye snapped. Her eyes flicked to Adam for a second, who looked away. "I'm fine."

Cassie saw that Adam clearly wanted to bolt again. His hands jittered nervously, picking at the frayed edge of his jacket. When he wasn't doing that he was tapping his feet, fixing his hair, or drumming his fingers on the table nearby. He was so antsy that it was starting to bother Cassie, and Melissa kept moving as though she want to go to him, but wasn't sure if he'd react well.

Suddenly his phone rang and he jumped in surprise. He answered it hastily, saying, "Hello?"

Jake rolled his eyes. "Let me guess, he has to leave." He mumbled, glancing at Faye and expecting a laugh or even a smirk. She stayed stony-faced.

Adam put his phone back in his pocket. "Sorry, there's a huge crowd in the Boathouse and dad needs help. We can figure this out later, right? I mean, we all agree that we shouldn't confront this man. He could be dangerous."

Before anyone could even say a thing he'd run out and was long gone. Melissa shot an apologetic glance to the group and followed. She hoped that maybe with less people around he'd be willing to tell her what was wrong.

Jake finally got up, stretching. "Well, I think I'll go to the basement and see if there's anything I can dig up. I know it's mostly empty, but I might as well try."

"I'll go with you." Cassie said. "There is a lot of stuff, and places to hide things. In fact, when I banged into one of the walls once it sounded kinda hollow…"

Soon their conversation faded and became inaudible. Diana smiled at Faye.

"Want to help me research? We could look through the books we have here."

"Or you could use this thing called Google." Faye snapped. "You know, look this guy up on Facebook or something. I doubt he's in some musty old book."

"Please, Faye?" Diana begged. She widened her eyes, blinking at the cranky witch. "Books are nice."

She went to pull Faye up, grasping her wrist, and was surprised when Faye cried out in pain and jerked away like she'd been electrocuted. Diana saw tears welling in the girl's eye, along with a mixture of pain and fear. She looked like a wounded animal, and Diana decided to keep her distance for the moment.

"Faye, what's wrong?"

Faye lowered her face, shielding herself from Diana with her hair. "Nothing."

"You're hurt." Diana said softly. She edged nearer. "Faye, did someone hurt you?"

"No." Faye's head went up, and she glared at Diana. "Don't treat me like a child. I'm fine."

Diana reached out carefully, pushing back the sleeve of Faye's jacket. She gasped at the ugly bruises that traced up Faye's arm and the obvious swelling. "Faye…" she received another scathing look. "This isn't fine. Please, you're scaring me. Who hurt you?"

Faye just shook her head mutely, pulling back her arm.

"Please…"

"There's nothing wrong with me." said Faye. "Nothing… fatal. Okay?"

Diana wanted more than anything to get Faye to a doctor, but she knew that in this state she was lucky Faye hadn't already taken off. "Okay."

"You can't tell!" Faye burst out, a few tears streaking town her face and leaving mascara smears. "Don't tell anyone, please."

Diana nodded.

"No one can no." Faye whispered, more to herself than Diana. "I'm fine."

Diana reached out impulsively, kissing Faye's forehead. "Just tell me if you need anything."

"I'm fine." Faye said for the hundredth time. She jumped up from the couch and forced a smile to her face. "So, should we start googling?"

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Melissa walked into the boathouse, glancing round to see if she could spot Adam who she'd been really worried about lately. She spotted him sat at a table in the corner, and quickly walked over to him.

"Hey," Melissa said, sitting down across from Adam.

"Hey." Adam mumbled back moodily.

"Are you ok?" Melissa asked concerned as Adam seemed really upset about something

"Fine," Adam snapped before getting up and storming off to wait some tables.

Melissa sat and stared into space for a while, thoughts going through her head about Adam. He had been really off lately, avoiding everyone in the circle. He also seemed really moody, after about five minutes Melissa decided to have another go at seeing what's wrong and headed over to where Adam was serving at the bar.

"Hey, can I have a cup of coffee?" Melissa asked him.

"Sure thing." Adam replied without looking at her, he quickly turned around and busied himself with making her coffee.

"Here you go," Adam said handing over her coffee

"Thanks." Melissa smiled sitting down at the bar, in front of Adam.

"So I haven't seen you much lately, where've you been?" Melissa asked.

"I've been helping my dad out; he really needs the help at the moment, you know? Between school work and the boathouse I don't have time to spend sorting out stupid Circle drama's and hanging out." Adam snapped.

"Ok sorry," Melissa whispered a bit shocked at how Adam had spoken to her.

"I was just wondering." she added after a minute.

"Sorry. I'm under a lot of stress at the minute." Adam told her "I'm not making very good company at the minute with the mood I'm in your better of hanging out with someone else." He said.

"Well, I want to hang out with you and besides I need to finish my coffee before I leave." Melissa told him determinedly.

"Fine." Adam said before turning round and started to clean up, avoiding Melissa.

After a while Melissa got fed up of Adam not talking to her and being annoyed.

"That's it!" Melissa said marching over to where Adam was stood "I'm sick of this just tell me what's wrong!" she shouted exasperated.

Adam grabbed her and pulled her into the back angrily.

"Nothing is wrong with me. Just leave me alone! For god's sake Melissa I told you I'm under a lot of stress and don't have time to hang out with you, I really don't care if that hurts you feelings. Just leave already I don't wanna talk to you about what's wrong. The only thing that's wrong is you being nosey and butting in to my business!" Adam shouted pacing up and down.

Melissa stood staring at him in shock, she'd seen Adam get angry before but he had never shouted at her before. He was like a whole different person, a dark and mean version of the Adam she is used too. Melissa quickly turned and rushed out of the back room, grabbed her coat and bag and nearly ran out of the boathouse, trying to hold back her tears until she was in her car.

Adam paced angrily in the back room. Why did everyone but into his business? He heard Melissa flee the room but didn't even run after her. What's the point? He didn't want to be around her at the minute, not when he was this angry. He quickly turned and punched the wall, trying to get rid of this horrible anger and darkness which was starting to swallow him whole.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Jake was sitting down and looked at Faye. He smiled. He knew he had been kind of distance lately and thought he would surprise Faye by doing something he considered romantic. As Faye was walking by Jake took hold of her planning on pulling Faye onto his lap. Faye always seemed to enjoy that spot in the past, but this time was different. As Jake took hold of Faye, Faye screamed out in pain and pushed her boyfriend away.

Jake was confused for a minute and then realized Faye was hurt. "Faye, what happened? Are you hurt?"

"It's nothing. Leave it alone," Faye hissed at Jake. There was no way she was telling him what happened.

Faye tried to walk away from him, but Jake is too fast. He gets in front of her stopping Faye from running. "I'm your boyfriend. I want to know what happened and who hurt you, so I can protect you."

"Oh, so now you care" Faye said venom in her voice,

"And what is that suppose to mean?" Jake asked taking a step towards her, his anger flaring up at the way Faye was talking to him.

"YOU DON'T EVEN CARE ABOUT ME!" Faye screamed at Jake after she took a step back from him, she knew he wouldn't hurt her but after what had happened with Adam the day before she wasn't taking any chances.

"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?" Jake was pissed that Faye would question that he cared for her. Of course Jake cared for her.

"ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS THAT STUPID VIAL OF YOURS!" Faye knew she should probably leave it there but she couldn't. She just had to continue. "ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS THE BALCONIS! INCLUDING THE TWO IN OUR GROUP. THE ONLY TIME YOU PUT THAT FREAKING SAND DOWN IS TO HELP THEM. DO YOU STILL LIKE CASSIE OR SOMETHING?"

"WHAT? YOU'RE MAKING STUFF OUT NOW!"

"I don't think I am." Faye started walking away from them and then looked at Cassie and Diana who were sitting down and had watched the exchange. "You don't say a word!" Faye said pointing at Diana who looked like she was about to say something. "And you..." Faye pointed at Cassie "You want to go have a three-way with Jake and his vial? Well be my guest!"

Faye ran out of the abandoned house before anyone could say another word. "FAYE WE WEREN'T DONE TALKING HERE!" Jake yelled running after his girlfriend leaving Cassie and Diana alone.

Cassie looked at Diana. "What did I do this time?" Cassie asked. She hadn't even said a word to Faye and there had been nothing between her and Jake for a long time. They were just friends.

"Nothing," Diana assured Cassie. "Faye is just being... Well Faye. She wanted to yell and all she could think of was picking on the old relationship you and Jake use to have. I'm sure it will be fine soon."

"That was so weird. Those two never fight. At least not like that."

Diana laughed at Cassie's comment causing Cassie to look at her. "They used to fight like that all the time."

"I've never seen them fight like that before." Cassie thought it over, but no she had never heard a fight that bad between the two before.

"Not recently, but they used to all the time. You should remember..." Then Diana remembered something. "Oh right, I sometimes forgot you weren't around two years ago." Diana did sometimes forget they had not known Cassie for a long time. The two were so close and they were sisters it was weird to think they had known each other for under a year. "Okay, two years ago you remember us telling you Faye and Jake were in a relationship." Cassie nodded. "Well that type of fight was completely normal back then." Diana started to tell Cassie a story.

-Two Years Ago-

_Diana was in school standing at her locker with Adam. The two were smiling and laughing at something they had just said when they heard it. Screaming coming from down the hall. "I'M NOT DONE TALKING TO YOU YET FAYE!" Jake screamed running after the girl. _

_ "WELL I'M DONE TALKING TO YOU, YOU IDIOT!" Faye screamed back. The hall had fallen silence as everyone listened to the two fight. _

_ "YOU JUST ALWAYS HAVE TO BE RIGHT. YOU CAN'T EVEN THINK THAT YOU ARE WRONG!" _

_ "BECAUSE I'M NOT WRONG!" _

_ "YOU KNOW WHAT? I'M DONE WITH YOU!" Jake screamed at him. "DON'T COME CRYING TO ME LATER WHEN YOU REALIZE YOU MADE A MISTAKE! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!" _

_ "YOU WON'T HAVE TO!" The two turned away and walked away from each other. _

-Present Day-

"Seriously?" Cassie asked and Diana nodded. "Any idea what they were fighting about back then?"

"Not that time, but they fought over so many things I forget everything they fought over."

"Did they really break up after that fight?"

"Nope," Diana answered. "They were back together the next day and screaming at each other again a few days later. Don't worry about this fight. The two will make up soon like they always did." Cassie wasn't too sure. She knew Faye was seriously hurt over this vial business and she really hated that her name had gotten mentioned in this fight. Considering she did nothing at all that really did hurt. Diana sensed her sister was upset at that. "Hey, like I said Faye was just looking to throw something at Jake and you were the perfect thing. It means nothing."

Cassie smiled at her sister. "Thanks. That makes me feel better."

The two sat there for a while no one saying a word. Diana looked back down at the computer. "Well I don't think we'll find anything here." Diana stated as she closed the computer. "I'm going to go back to Melissa's place."

Diana got up and started to the door. Cassie wanted to stop her. Cassie wanted to ask Diana to come back to her house for a while. She didn't want to be alone, but she didn't say anything. She didn't want to get hurt if Diana said no. Diana left the house. Cassie sat for a while, but the only thing worst then being at her house alone was being alone in the abandoned house. Cassie got up and started to go home.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie was on her front step just about to go in her house when she looked over at Jake's house. She knew she shouldn't go, but Jake was a friend and Cassie wanted to make sure he was okay. Cassie walked next door and noticed the door is open.

"Jake," she called out, carefully ready to defend herself with magic. "Jake, are you here?"

"Upstairs," Jake called out. Cassie closed the door and went upstairs. She walked into Jake's room to see him pacing, and the room was a real big mess. Jake was going through papers and seemed to be freaking out. "You come for that three way? If you did I have to tell you my vial and I are kind of busy, but we might be able to make time for you." Cassie held back a laugh at Jake's comment.

"Your door was open," Cassie told Jake.

"Damn, I forgot to close it." Jake looked around. "I can't believe Faye. She's hurt and won't tell me why."

"Maybe it's nothing. Maybe she just fell down the stairs or something."

"Or one of your Balcoin siblings could have hurt her and she's too afraid to tell us."

"I didn't think of that." Cassie walked over to Jake's desk and went to lean against it. She put her hand down on the desk and it ended up touching something that felt weird. Cassie looked at her hand to see she had gotten some type of dirt on it. "Jake! Oh god this place is a mess." Cassie said using her other hand to brush the dirt off and back onto the desk. "You got to learn to cleanup. A pig is neater then you."

Jake stopped himself from chuckling slightly at Cassie's comment. "You know this is no time for jokes Cassie. Faye could be in serious trouble..." Cassie thought Jake was being a bit of a hypocrite since he said the first joke, but she decided to not mention it. Truthfully she was starting to feel a little weird and her hand was starting to itch.

"I need to find them," Jake finally said after a bit more of throwing papers around. It took Cassie by surprise and she had no idea what Jake was talking about.

"Find who?" Cassie finally asked confused.

"Your Balcoin siblings."

"What? Why?" Cassie was shocked Jake would want to do this.

"If they hurt Faye we need to take care of this now. We have to make sure they know we will not let them get away with hurting someone in our Circle. You could help me." Cassie looked at Jake confused. "I'll need some extra power on my side. Who better then one of the Balcoins herself?"

"Jake, I don't..." Before Cassie could finish her sentence she looked at Jake's face. He was pleading with her and the look in his eyes. Cassie couldn't say no to him. After everything Jake had done for her. He had left the witch hunters for her and had always protected her. Cassie had to help him out here. "...know how we'll find them." Cassie finally finished. "They always seem to find us. We don't even know where they are staying."

Jake thought it over for a minute and then got an idea. "I know how we'll find them." Jake went into his closet and started looking through it. Finally he took out an old game of Monopoly.

"We're going to find them with a board game?" Cassie asked but Jake wasn't paying attention to her as he was once again looking through his closet. He took out two other board games and Cassie saw him taking something out of it. "Okay I'm confused." Jake didn't answer as he started looking through his desk draws. He finally took out a piece of paper and unfolded it.

Jake placed the paper on the floor and Cassie saw it was a map of Chance Harbor. "Okay with this map of Chance Harbor and these..." Jake held out his hand and Cassie saw he was holding six dice, probably from the board games. "We will find your siblings."

"How?" Cassie was really confused now.

"There is one dice for each of the six Balcoins in town." Cassie understood that part. "You are connected to them by blood and magic." Cassie waited for Jake to continue. "Take the dice and sort of wrap your magic around them. Do you understand what I mean?" Cassie nodded understanding Jake wanted Cassie to put her magic into the dice. Sort of like casting a spell without words on them. "Then think about your siblings. Throw the dice onto the map. One dice will land here representing you, one will land on Melissa's representing Diana, and the last four will lead us right to the Balcoins."

"That's brilliant," Cassie said shocked. "Why don't Lucas and Ryder do this to find Diana?"

"It's a little known magical trick I picked up. They probably have never heard of it." Jake smiled at the thought. "You ready?" Jake held out the dice. Cassie put out her hand with the Balcoin symbol on it and Jake put the dice in her hand. Cassie closed her fist around the dice and went to draw her magic out and into them, but when she tried she felt pain. It felt as though her Balcoin symbol was on fire.

Cassie yelled out in pain as she dropped the dice. The minute she stopped trying to use magic the pain disappeared. "What's wrong?" Jake asked worried.

"I felt pain as I tried to use my magic." Cassie looked at Jake's lamp and went to shatter it, but all she felt was the pain again, "I have no power."

"What?" Jake asked confused going to Cassie's side worried about his friend. He looked at Cassie's hand. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Cassie hissed. "I felt pain and..." Cassie stopped thinking. "It's the same thing that happened to Diana yesterday."

"We got to figure out what's going on with the two of you." Jake said. "You're our most powerful members and we need you two to be able to stand against the Balcoins if need be. Maybe there's something in my spell book." Jake went to look through his spell book,

Cassie was looking at his desk thinking of something. "Jake, what was that dirt on your desk?" Cassie asked.

"What?' Jake asked as he was flipping through pages in his spell book.

"The dirt I put my hand in. What was it? Where did it come from?"

"Oh a little of the sand from my vial came out and fell on the desk the other night. I was keeping it there so I could study it without it being inside the vial. You must have put your hand in that. Why?"

"You had some on your hand the other night when you picked up Diana." Jake looked at Cassie. "The next day Diana couldn't use her magic. Today I put my hand in the same stuff and I can't use my magic."

Jake jumped up running to his desk. He touched the sand and then waited a few minute. Then he moved the papers around with his magic. It was working fine. "My magic is working fine." Jake said disappointed and then thought of something. "Maybe it only works on witches with dark magic. Maybe when this sand or dirt or whatever you want to call it comes into contact with a witch who has dark magic it blocks their powers temporarily."

"Is that possible?" Cassie asked shocked as Jake went to get the vial out. Jake stared at the vial.

"I don't know, but now that I have a working theory on what this can do, I can do more research. I can find the answer." Jake was staring at the vial and bringing it closer to his face. Cassie seriously thought he might kiss it and could totally understand Faye's point about the vial.

"Oh just marry the freaking thing already," Cassie said a little pissed that she was powerless. Cassie left the house without another word.

Jake watched her leave and then looked at his vial. He had so many things to research now, but it would have to wait. He had to find out how Faye got hurt first and deal with the Balcoins. He put his vial away deciding he would research later.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Melissa and Diana were sitting in Melissa's living room talking. The TV was on, but neither girl was paying much attention to the show. Then someone started knocking on the door. "Were you expecting anyone?" Diana asked and Melissa shook her head.

"Diana, Melissa, you there?" They heard Cassie's voice.

"It's Cassie. That's weird. She never comes here." Melissa said as she got up. "Then again you are here so I shouldn't be that surprised." Melissa started walking to the door and yelled coming.

As soon as Melissa opened the door Cassie ran in. Melissa closed the girl and looked at the girl who seemed out of breath. She had her backpack on her back. "Did you run here or something?" Cassie nodded as she tried to catch her breath. "Was someone chasing you or something?" Cassie shook her head no. "Then why did you run?"

"Wanted to get here fast and my car wouldn't work for some reason." Cassie explained as Diana came over.

"You want some water?" Melissa asked as Diana led her sister into the living room.

"Please," Cassie called back.

Melissa went to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water. She went back into the living room and gave it to Cassie. Cassie opened the bottle and took a huge sip. "Thanks." Cassie said when she was done and Melissa just nodded.

"So what is with the running?" Diana asked curious.

"I'm powerless," Cassie told the two causing them to look at her. "All because of the stupid dirt and..." Cassie mumbled and neither girl understood what she was saying.

"Cassie," Diana said making Cassie stop. "Slow down and start from the beginning. What do you mean you're powerless?"

"I'll show you," Cassie said putting the water bottle down on floor. She held out her hand at the water bottle and Cassie and Melissa expected it to explode, but that didn't happen. Instead Cassie screamed in pain and held her hand with her other hand. "That hurts badly. It feels like my symbol is on fire. The same thing that happened to you Diana."

"I only felt a small burn. It didn't feel like my hand was on fire." Diana said worried about her sister. "How does this keep happening to us?"

"Well it's all Jake's fault. I must have gotten a bigger amount on me then you did." Cassie told the two.

"Jake's fault?" Melissa asked confused. "What do you mean?"

"You can't tell anyone this. That means Dylan and Claire." Cassie looked at Melissa when she said this. "You can't even think about this around them." Melissa nodded understanding. She might like the two, but whatever was going on was clearly top secret circle business. "Jake's vial is doing this to us."

"What?" Diana asked.

"Remember he had some of the sand on his hand when he picked you up the other day and I was just at his house and got some of it on my hand. Jake thinks that it might block the powers of a person with dark magic temporarily."

"Wow that would be really useful." Melissa said causing the two sisters to look at her. "I know it sucks for you two since you ended up getting it on you, but it could help us out a bit." The two had to agree. There were a lot of uses for that little vial now.

Cassie took a deep breath. She had to ask. "I'm powerless." She repeated. "Diana's magic must have been gone for nearly a day and I got more on me then she did. I don't know how long I'll be without magic. I can't stay alone in my house. What if the Balcoins decide to come? I can't go to Faye's. I don't think Ms. Chamberlain is around tonight and Faye isn't too happy with me right now." Cassie looked at Melissa. "I need a place to hide. Can I stay here? Please."

Melissa looked at the girl. This was unusual. Sure the two were a part of the same circle and everything but they rarely hung out. In fact Melissa thought this might be the first time Cassie set foot in her house. "Sure," Melissa said. No matter what Melissa was Cassie's friend and she wasn't going to let Cassie be on her own and powerless. "You can stay here until your magic is back. Actually the three of us together could be kind of fun"

"Thank you," Cassie said and hugged Melissa. Then Cassie looked at Diana. "You don't have a problem with this. Do you?" Cassie knew Diana wanted to be away from her.

"You're my sister, of course not. I wouldn't let you stay in your house alone powerless anyway." Diana might have wanted some space from Cassie, but she wasn't going to let Cassie get hurt. If Cassie hadn't been able to stay here Diana would have gone to Cassie's house to protect her. Cassie smiled very glad she would be spending more time with her sister and Diana smiled too happy to be spending more time with Cassie.

"Hey, so we're going to be having a bit of a sleepover. What do you guys want to do?"

Before anyone could say anything they heard someone ask "Who's sleeping over?" The girl turned around to find Patrick Glaser had just walked in.

"Hi dad," Melissa said. "Cassie is going to be spending the night."

"Hi, Mr. Glaser," Cassie said waving. She had never actually met Melissa's father before.

"Cassie Blake, right?" Cassie nodded. "I knew your mom. We were friends." Cassie also knew that but choose not to say anything. As far as she knew Patrick Glaser had no idea the kids were practicing magic. "I didn't realize Melissa and you were close friends."

"I'd say we're pretty close, right Melissa?"

"Yeah," Melissa answered. "Really close." The three girls smiled.

"Well you girls have a good time tonight then." Patrick walked up the stairs leaving the girls by themselves.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Fury was burning through Jake's whole body as he stormed to the Boathouse. No one else would believe him, so he knew he had to come here. Adam hated the Balcoins as much as he did, so he was the only one that would be willing to go after them. Diana and Melissa would be too hesitant to try anything. Cassie just couldn't help, thanks to that sand. Faye… well, she probably didn't want to talk to him anyway.

"Adam?" Jakes said, heading to the back room when he couldn't spot Adam in the Boathouse.

Adam was seated at a desk, flipping through some textbook. It made Jake grateful that he wasn't in school anymore; being a witch was such a full-time job that adding school to it made it nearly impossible.

"What?" asked Adam. He looked nervous. "Come to badger me in Faye's place or something?"

"No, I need to talk to you about something concerning Faye." Jake said. He sat down on the couch. "I need to figure out who hurt her."

"It could have been anything." said Adam quickly.

"I need to know what it was." Jake said. His foot tapped impatiently on the ground. "It's like she can't tell me, which means she was threatened. You think it could have been the Balcoins?"

"Probably." Adam said.

"Maybe they needed her for something, or maybe she saw something she wasn't supposed to." He continued, oblivious to Adam.

"That's true, she could have." Adam was grateful that Jake had found someone to blame so easily. He knew Faye would probably never tell Jake that he hurt her, but Adam figured it would be safer if Jake blamed the Balcoins. Even if they denied it, Jake would still think they were the culprits. "Maybe we should go ask them."

"Maybe we should." Jake agreed. There was a new fire burning in his eyes.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie, Diana, and Melissa were laughing at some soap opera on TV when they heard the knock at the door. It was Diana who opened, finding a shivering and terrified Faye.

With Melissa's help she led Faye inside and sat her down on the couch. Cassie watched from the floor, concern in her eyes.

"Did something else happen?" Diana asked slowly, remembering Faye's hesitance earlier that night.

Faye shrugged. "I was just at h-home, and I was s-scared. I… Jake is angry with me, so I can't go there, and my Mom isn't home. Everything hurts…"

Diana and Melissa both knew this side of Faye; the broken, vulnerable side that had no way to hide emotion. They'd seen it when Jake had left her, and when her grandfather had died. Cassie had seen it too, but not to the extent Melissa and Diana had seen.

"What?" Melissa asked. "What do you mean… are you hurt?"

"Yeah, something banged her up pretty badly." Diana said. "I found out at the abandoned house."

"Faye, what hurts?" Melissa asked. She was speaking softly, trying to not to scare Faye. It was like she was talking to a younger child. "I'm going to need something more specific than 'everything', okay?"

Faye nodded. "My wrist hurts, but I don't think it's broken. A-And my ribs are bruised, maybe… I don't know."

"You were limping, weren't you?" Cassie suggested helpfully. "I saw it earlier, you were limping when you walked in the abandoned house."

"I guess." Faye said. "I just don't know."

After about half an hour Melissa and Diana determined that Faye had a sprained wrist, bruised ribs and ankle, and numerous small bruises all over her body, not including the bruise that covered her right shoulder that had spread down her arm and back. Faye refused to tell them what exactly had happened, but to Diana it appeared as though Faye had been thrown through a wall or at something incredibly hard. Faye didn't protest when they helped her, and soon she was bandaged up and in much better shape. Even Cassie abandoned her place on the floor to help.

Half an hour later Faye was drifting off to sleep on the couch, Melissa stroking her hair and humming softly to her.

"What do you think happened?" Cassie asked. "I mean… whatever hurt her, it—or they—were powerful. You think that maybe it was…?"

"The Balcoins?" Dian ventured. She glanced at Faye and led Cassie into the kitchen. "It's all I could come up with, but it doesn't make sense. Why would they hurt her? More importantly, why would they hurt her and then let her go?"

"Maybe she escaped?"

Dian shook her head. "No, they would have found her by now. Unless they somehow threatened her and made her spy on us there's no reason they'd just let her get away. Even then, they have Claire and Dylan doing that. Melissa trusts them, so they're the perfect spies."

"Then who?" Cassie pressed her hand to her forehead, groaning. "It could have been anything. It could have been that teacher, for all we know. Faye doesn't know what he looks like, so he could've attacked her."

"We'll know once she's back in school." said Diana. "But for now maybe I should just take her home."

"Home? What if whatever did this comes back?"

Diana started to walk back out to the living room. "I'll be there. I might as well stay with her. I don't… I don' want any more trouble, and I don't want my magic getting affected by yours."

"Diana, please don't."

"I'm sorry, Cassie, but I can't risk it. I miss you too… but I hate the feeling dark magic gives me and somehow when I'm around you it sparks." Diana said. She gave her sister a quick hug. "Please understand."

Cassie nodded after a minute. "Okay."

Out in the living room Faye was nearly asleep, Melissa pulling a blanket over her. "Is she staying?" asked Cassie.

"Actually, I was thinking I would take her home and stay with her." Diana told Melissa quickly.

"Diana?" Faye mumbled. She blinked, slowly opened her eyes. "What?"

Dian sat down next to her. "I'm going to take you home and stay there. Wouldn't want any Balcoin power surges."

"Oh, of course." Melissa said. She shrugged sympathetically at Cassie. "Faye?"

"I can get up by myself, thank you." Faye snapped, back to her old self. She pulled herself up with Diana's arm as support, finally managing to stand. "Are we driving?"

Dian took the keys from Faye's hand. "I'm driving."

When the two had gone Cassie sank onto the couch, biting her lips and trying to keep back the tears. Melissa sat next to her, not sure what she could say.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

When Jake and Adam arrived at the hotel where the other Balcoin's were staying, the rain started to plummet and hit the roof of the car hard.

Adam was terribly worried and kept trying to get a plan of action in his head. He couldn't give himself away to the Balcoin's, if they found anything out or even suspected him they could make Jake doubt their guilt in what happened to Faye. They had to get in and attack. And, of course, try not to be killed by any of Blackwell's heirs and their genetic dark magic.

There was also the problem of repeating the same thing that he had done on the beach, losing control of this new Power, allowing Jake to see what was happening to him.

"It's here." Jake interrupted his thoughts. The blonde parked the car in the courtyard of a small and old hotel. The engine stopped so suddenly that the car jumped. Jake, once more, was giving the world a demonstration of his self control and taking out his anger on the vehicle.

"So, what's the plan?" Adam asked, realizing that was the first time either had spoken.

"We kick the door in and demand surrender. And then we kick their asses."

Adam watched Jake get out, feeling more anxious than ever.

"Brilliant." He muttered to himself, before following his partner to the attack.

...

Ryder arranged the card again. Claire yawned before starting to turn them, one by one. Ryder had a thing for tarot and since he had found out that Claire had psychic powers, he liked to make her read them.

Now Claire just thought that it was an unbelievably boring loss of time. She had never found anything that made sense in those cards. But according to Ryder, the fun was working out the cryptic messages.

Claire didn't agree with that. Her brother was a guy with strange habits.

"Not enjoying this, kid?" He asked her with a smirk when she pulled another card without any enthusiasm. Claire didn't answer.

"This is killing me." Lucas usual raspy voice broke the silence. He was half sitting half lying down on an old chair, starring at the roof.

"The cracks on the roof?" Dylan asked. "Yeah. They make me quite upset too."

"No. Your company." Lucas answered, making Dylan look at him with a fake offended face. "I'm out of here." They all knew he was talking to Ryder, he never usually bothered talking to the other two.

He got up and walked to the door. Before he could raise his hand to open it tough, it blew up in a mess of dust and wood and Lucas who was hit by a flying piece of door flew into the opposite wall.

Dylan got up fast as a cat, probably due to the shock of what had just happened. Claire screamed and covered her face with her hands, to avoid be hurt by one of the hinges that flew off. Ryder who was as tough as Lucas had stayed where he was and casually pulled another Tarot card from the pack

From the middle of the dust, Jake appeared, his eyes furious, his hair in a mess. He stepped into the room, his hands balled into fists. Behind him, showed up Adam, pale and jumpy, shaking his shoulders as if to prepare to a body-to-body combat.

Both of them were also covered in dust, just as the Balcoins and the room.

Jake took a look at the place around him and in a demanding voice, shouted, "Surrender now or we will make sure you are all finished right here, right now!"

Adam rolled his eyes. So, he was being literal.

After a few minutes of silence, with Dylan starring at the two boys with shock and Claire with horror, a loud laugh exploded in the room.

Ryder started clapping, in the middle of his laughter.

"Wow!" He said, finishing his laughing and clapping. "Great entry! A little too messy for me, and I probably would try to keep my own face clean, but still was very memorable!"

"What the hell?" Dylan finally recovered his voice. "Are you really that unaware of the 'knocking the door' thing? You just need to knock a little bit, not blow it away! 'Hello, can we came in?', 'Oh, Yes, PLEASE COME IN, DO YOU WANT A CUP OF TEA?'?"

Jake, ignoring both of them, walked in Ryder's direction in a very threatening way and said trough his teeth, "Don't try to act dumb!" Jake said angrily, Ryder just raised an eyebrow. "We do know what you did!"

There was another small silence, where Lucas got up from the floor. There was a little cut on his eyebrow that he wiped with his hand, but it was bleeding again almost immediately.

"Ok. I confess." said Ryder rising his hands in surrender. "We did order pizza and we haven't paid for it. God, you people are good!"

Jake's expression, that was starting to change into a victorious smile, shined into a new wave of fury as he raised his hand and a chair came flying in Ryder's direction. Claire screamed again and ran to get out of the way, but before the chair could reach Jake's target and all his annoyance, something threw it away and then it was Adam who had to get out of the way. The chair reached the wall and stayed there, as if something was keeping it immobile. Adam looked and saw a card – seven of hearts – carved into the wood by a blade.

Ryder got another card and then stood up, shaking his hair and making a small cloud of dust show up around his head. His face had lost all the hilarity it had moments before.

"What is this, buddy?" He said walking in Jake's direction. His voice was the coldest thing Adam had ever heard, but he couldn't think about it too much: the tension was starting to make him feel like he was about to lose it again, and he just couldn't do that in front of Jake or everything would be lost. "You blow up my door, destroy my room, offend me and try to kill me with an old wood chair, which I personally think that was the most insulting thing of all. Till now we have just waited for a good explanation to what the hell you are doing here, annoying me with your presence and now I'm tired of waiting. So, what is the reason behind your suicidal behaviour?"

Jake smiled bitterly.

"Suicidal?" Clearly, he took that comment about his lack of capacity to face the Balcoin siblings as a very insulting one. "You are the one in a bad situation here. You, your pets and your caveman broke the truce!" Ryder rolled his eyes and took a deep breath.

"No, we did not." He said in a way that made Adam think that he was very sorry they had kept their word. "Everybody is behaving very well. So, if you just want a fight you need a better excuse than that."

Okay, that is what Adam was afraid of. He stayed besides Jake and looked at Ryder. From across the room, Claire watched Adam with an interested expression.

"A liar! Just like Blackwell!" Adam had to shut them up and let Jake keep believing they were the ones responsible for Faye's injuries. If they had to get into a fight, so be it: He felt strong enough.

"Can't he just be a liar?" Dylan asked snappy. He had liked Cassie's friends, he really did, but that was the wrong way of getting into their room and he hated being caught by surprise. Ryder gave him a look and he realized that that probably wasn't the best comeback he could have thought of.

After hear Blackwell's name, Jake's eyes shone in a very strange way. The blonde gave Ryder a smile and said in a pleasant voice, as enjoying every Word:

"I hope that your damn father is burning in hell, by the way."

After Jake said that, another explosion was heard and Adam was thrown out of the room till he hit the iron frame that separated the hotel room from the garden. Lucas, after throwing Jake away started to walk in his direction, the cut in his eyebrow bleeding and making him seem scarier than ever. But Ryder stopped him angrily:

"DON'T!" He barked to Lucas, pushing him away.

Adam, feeling euphoric and relieved that there was no time for conversation anymore, he made a move to attack Ryder, but he was pushed away with such energy that the air was expelled brutally from his lungs.

Across the room, Dylan still had his hand in Adam's direction and seemed to be having an internal battle. He liked Cassie's friends, he really did, but Ryder was still his brother and the family bound demanded that meant that protecting Ryder was his priority.

And, okay, he still was mad about the way they scared him.

Jake showed up and suddenly the table came flying in Ryder and Lucas's direction, making each of them run to opposite sides of the room.

Dylan ran to Claire and both hid behind the bed. Claire saw Adam getting up from where Dylan had thrown him and her gut feeling told her something was really wrong. It was like Adam's energy was gone and else had taken its place, something that was dark and powerful.

Lucas prepared to attack Jake once more, and once more Ryder stopped him. Before he could hit Jake, his brother pushed him violently and instead Lucas attacked the wall, making a hole in it.

"IT'S A TRICK! THEY ARE TRYING TO FOOL YOU TO BREAK THE TRUCE!" Ryder yelled angrily to Lucas. He was furious and Dylan didn't need Claire's powers to tell that.

Claire screamed and Dylan saw Adam walking in their direction. He seemed quite crazy and Dylan didn't want to hurt the guy, but couldn't really say the same about Adam's intentions. He grabbed Claire's arm and ran with her outside the room.

Inside, Lucas pushed Ryder back. If the older one was furious, Lucas was almost foaming at the mouth.

"THEY ARE ATTACKING US, IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T REALIZED!"

"WE WON'T BREAK THE TRUCE!"

Lucas was telling Ryder exactly where his brother could put his truce, when they heard Claire's voice coming from outside. Jake ran outside to look for Adam and that gave Ryder an idea: he pointed at the floor and it suddenly cracked and Jake fell into the hole of wood and sand.

Nobody could blame them if the floor's wood was rotten, right?

Adam, who was busy chasing Dylan and Claire, stopped when the floor of the hotel came down. The shock made him come back to himself. He looked at Claire and Dylan who looked prepared to start running again at any moment, before he went to look for Jake under the wreckage.

Jake got up slowly, a cut on his face.

"Where are they?" The blonde mumbled. "Where are they?"

Adam looked around and saw both Ryder and Lucas standing in front of the door of the hotel room. Claire and Dylan ran to reach them, both panting and red from all the running.

Jake once more walked in their direction, but he reached what seemed to be an invisible wall.

"Protection spells?" He yelled at Ryder. "Are you afraid of facing us, huh?"

"You, see, protection spells don't really break the truce." Ryder told him, sounding proud of himself. "As it's clear that you girls were looking for fun in the wrong place, we will keep our security by keeping you away from us."

"You can't keep this spell forever, you know!" Jake yelled angrily. "This will go away!"

"I can keep it for time enough for you to leave." Ryder answered, turning his back to Adam and Jake going back into the room once more. Lucas, with his eyes glaring, sent Jake a very ugly gesture before following Ryder. Dylan went after him, feeling to exhausted to give the night a good closure. Claire stayed for a few seconds, though. She looked directly at Adam, with a very curious expression.

So, he was himself again, huh.

Claire then turned and walked back into the room.

"They did it." Jake said to Adam, still looking at the spot where the Balcoins disappeared. "I'm sure of it."

Adam, hearing that, felt that the whole thing was worth it. He was safe. At least for now.

"They said they didn't."

"Do you believe them?" Jake looked at him.

Adam took a deep breath.

"No. I don't."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

It was dark in Faye's room, and the unfamiliar shadows were making Diana nervous. She was curled up in Faye's bed, listening to Faye mumble in her sleep and pitch back and forth restlessly. Diana stretched, yelping when Faye accidentally hit her in the side. "Faye!"

"….hmmmmm?"

"Faye, stop flailing."

Faye yawned, rolling over to face Diana. "Sorry, Lady Di."

"I'm serious!"

"And I'm Lupin." Faye laid her head on Faye's shoulder. "Go to sleep."

Diana was actually starting to drift off when her phone began to buzz. Sighing, she flipped it open and said, "Hello?"

"It's Melissa."

"Is something wrong?" Diana was suddenly imagining Cassie being hurt, or kidnapped. What if it was the teacher, or the Balcoins? Why was Melissa calling? "Is it Cassie?"

"Cassie can't sleep." Melissa said. "She keeps waking up because of nightmares or something, and now she won't go back to sleep."

"Nightmares?"

"Not like yours, Diana. Regular ones."

Diana breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, I'd hate it if she got hurt. Do you want me to come back? I'm not sure if it's the best idea. I mean, What if my magic somehow started to make her nightmares real like mine?"

There was a prolonged silence before Melissa said, "How about you just talk to her?"

Faye was wide awake by then, so Diana switched to speakerphone, telling Melissa to do the same. "Cassie?"

"Diana?" Cassie sounded tired. "Is something wrong?"

"Melissa said you couldn't sleep."

"Yeah." said Cassie. "Umm… just had dreams about Blackwell. It's nothing."

Diana turned so she was facing Faye and set the phone between them. It glowed, lighting up Faye's pale skin and making her look ghostly. "What happened in them?"

"It doesn't matter." There was some shuffling, and Diana wondered if Cassie was lying down like she and Faye had.

Melissa said, "Do you have nightmares about him too, Diana?"

"Sometimes." Diana admitted. "But he's dead. When I wake up I remember that. There's nothing that could make him real again."

Her head became heavier and heavier as they kept talking, until finally all four girls fell asleep.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Ryder and Lucas were looking around their motel room. It was a mess after what that Adam had done to it. "I'm going to kill him," Lucas hissed. "I'm really going to kill him."

"It would break the truce," Ryder told his brother.

"They're breaking the truce. Coming here and picking a fight with us." Lucas mumbled under his breath.

"Actually the truce never said they couldn't pick a fight with us. Just that we would not hurt them." Ryder pointed out and stopped Lucas before he could say anything else. "What I'd like to know is how is that guy so powerful? He's not a Balcoin." Ryder saw that Claire was looking a bit nervous. "Claire, do you know something?'

Claire looked at her big brother and nodded. "It's not much. Don't be mad."

"Tell us what you know." Ryder said deciding it was better not to frighten his little sister anymore. Adam had already scared the two enough for today.

"There's something wrong with him. I don't know what though. It's like he has the same power that drew us to Chance Harbor in the first place." Dylan put an arm around his twin sister for support. It was hard ratting Adam out to their big brothers since they truthfully liked the guy, but it needed to be done. "He's keeping a secret, but he's keeping it so well not even I can tell what it may be."

"I say we go to that stupid boathouse and force the secret out of him," Lucas said looking like he was ready to leave.

"And get knocked into a wall again," Ryder pointed out, which caused Lucas to give him a look. "No, we have to be more sneaky about this. We have to get close to him and figure out what he might be hiding." Ryder looked at his two younger siblings. "Seems like you two might be able to do that."

"Yeah probably," Dylan said, but felt a little bad about it. He truthfully did like Adam, but he knew his brother was right. Adam needed to be watched.

"Good," Ryder said. "One thing don't trust him. We're going to try to get close to him, but we can't trust him. Apparently no one can trust him." Ryder laughed. "Not even his own Circle."


	5. Understanding

**Plotline writers – Forcystus5, xleamalfoyx, Coralinas, thefallenloveoflife,**

**Writers – Coralinas, Forcystus5, CharmedMilliE, ilove2dance, luisa Mendoza, thefallenloveoflife, witch-witha-B, TtylerMaria**

**Editors – flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B**

**Graphic Designers – xleamalfoyx, Charlene F.**

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**Tumblr Account – witch-witha-B,**

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**Sorry I have to make the links look so confusing, but if I didn't they wouldn't show up. Please follow and subscribe to the two accounts, and help support us!**

**Disclaimer: We don't own The Secret Circle.**

Episode 5 – "Understanding"

When Diana woke the first thing she noticed was that there was something warm pressed into her side, and a head was tucked beneath her chin. In a haze, half-awake, she wondered vaguely if it was Grant. Of course, the person in her bed was smaller than Grant, and smelled different.

Her eyes fluttered open, seeing dark hair and realized that it was Faye who had curled up against her during the night. As for her phone… it was pressed into Diana's cheek, still on since she'd fallen asleep talking to Cassie and Melissa. She held it closer, trying to see if Melissa and Cassie had done the same. After a minute it was apparent that one of them had hung up, whether it was on purpose or by accident.

"… Diana?" Faye mumbled softly into her neck, pulling her head away. "Why are you here?"

"I stayed the night, remember?"

"Oh." Faye rolled over to her own side of the bed. "I forgot, sorry. Thanks for staying, though."

Diana nodded, sitting up and eyeing Faye cautiously. "So… is it safe now?"

"What do you mean?' asked Faye.

"Whatever hurt you, are you safe from it?" Diana didn't want to breach the subject if she didn't have to, but she had to know. "Because I'm not leaving you alone in this house if you're not."

"Yes." Faye said. She looked directly at Diana, so Diana would know she was telling the truth. "It was just an accident."

As Diana got up and busied herself with dressing she noticed Faye despondently slump over on the bed. The girl in question sighed, blowing a strand of hair away from her face only to have it fall back. Still too sore to move much, Faye attempted to brush the hair away, huffing angrily when her stiff arms didn't want to move. "Damn it!"

"Here." Diana dropped her comb, kneeling on the bed and helping Faye. "There, better?"

"I hate being completely incapacitated!" Faye complained loudly, partially ignoring Diana. "But… thanks."

"No problem." Diana finished dressing, coming back to sit next to Faye when she was done. "So, you going to need help?"

"No."

"You're telling me you can get dressed by yourself when you couldn't get hair out of your face?"

Faye groaned. "No, I'm saying that there's no way in hell you're getting me to school."

Diana wanted to argue, but Faye looked so tired. Besides, if she was still sore, it would probably be uncomfortable moving around a lot. "Well… fine. Is your mom coming home soon?"

"Yeah." Faye said. "She's going to be here eventually, but I don't know when."

"Okay." Diana said. She started to gather her things from around the room. "Will you be fine by yourself until then? I can stay if you want me to."

"No, I'm fine." said Faye. "A stack of magazines would be nice, though."

Diana ended up leaving an hour later than planned, since she'd stayed to make tea for Faye, who then accused her of drugging the tea. That led to fighting, which led to tea being spilled all over the floor. Faye was so irritable by then that Diana made her more tea, this time putting some sleeping pills and pain medication in it so that Faye would get rest. Luckily for Diana, Faye didn't notice the difference. When she left Faye was fast asleep, and was likely to stay that way for a while.

Diana was uneasy about leaving Faye. True, they weren't the best of friends, but Diana still cared about Faye. She could remember back to the times when she and Faye had been friends. Back then Faye would have told Diana who hurt her, without Diana having to ask. Sometimes she longed for those days to come back.

Finally she brushed the idea out of her mind, driving towards school. She would figure out what had happened to Faye eventually.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Adam was walking through the school corridor and his mind was just somewhere else. Things were getting out of control, he knew it. He felt like his anxiety was going to kill him any minute.

He hadn't been able to talk to Faye yet and that was driving him mad. He didn't really know what he could say to her anyway, but that didn't matter. She probably saw something and she knew he wasn't... normal.

Adam knew that – as crazy as that might sound – the main reason why he didn't want his friends know about what had been happening the last few weeks was because he didn't want them to know he wasn't able to control himself or his powers anymore. Yes, he had accepted that as a fact: He wasn't able to control himself anymore. That was yet another sign of weakness.

"Adam!" Someone put their hand on his shoulder: it was Cassie. "What is wrong with you? I have been calling you for hours!"

"Sorry, I'm feeling a little off today," He tried to laugh. She was still looking at him, so he continued "Guess I'm tired, haven't slept well."

Melissa and Diana showed up while Cassie nodded in understanding at Adam's comment.

"Hey!" Diana gave him a smile. It always surprised Adam how she was still able to smile while their situations kept getting worse and worse.

He smiled back, though. Or at least he tried.

"Where's Faye?" He asked, suddenly reminded of the situation he was in with Faye.

The girls exchanged a concern look before Melissa decided to tell him what happened,

"She isn't coming today. Again." Adam felt sick. "She wasn't feeling very well."

"What happened?" He asked, alarmed.

"Well..."Then Melissa started to tell him how Faye showed up at her house last night and just cracked. "She was really injured."

"Really?" Adam's voice was distant.

"Yep. She just wouldn't tell us what happened though." Diana said, still worrying that she had left Faye alone. "I spent the night with her, at her house. To make sure she would be fine." Cassie admired how Diana said that in a firm voice, without blinking. As if she was trying to convince herself, not the just the others.

"Good. And no one knows what happened to her?" Adam asked, trying to make sure. The girls nodded.

"No. Like I said, she wouldn't tell us anything." Melissa told him.

"I see..." Then he looked at Cassie. "Wait, what were you doing at Melissa's?"

"Oh! That," Cassie suddenly reminded there was something else they had to tell him.

When she was about to start though, the bell rang, letting them know they had to go back to class.

"I'll tell you later, is a long story." Adam nodded at Cassie and watched as the three disappeared together in the crowd. And then, the hall was empty and quiet. And he was alone.

So Faye had been hurt more than he had first thought.

At least she hadn't told anyone...

No, Adam shook his head, what the hell was he thinking about? That was Faye, a member of his Circle! They had been through enough for him to call her a friend, after all they had known each other forever.

She was hurt and he had done that to her. Who knows who else he could hurt?

Adam started to walk down the corridor again, knowing he wasn't going to class that day.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

It was now official, Faye Chamberlain hated watching day time TV programmes. Stuck in the house most of the day with nothing to do but eat and watch TV was not good for her. Okay so she had gotten out of the house yesterday but today it was driving her mad. She had gotten some sort of communication that morning when she had spoken with Diana about whether she was going to school or not. But even with the help of Cassie, Melissa and Diana, she really didn't feel much better and there was no way she was battling through the halls with her injuries. School would have to wait, but Faye wasn't sure about how long that would be. Her mom was due home tonight and was likely to freak out if she found out Faye had skipped school the last two days, but she would probably freak out more if she knew why.

Faye herself was still trying to get to terms with what had happened with Adam at the beach, since all the calls the morning before Faye hadn't heard from Adam but she was grateful. She was physically and mentally exhausted at the moment and she didn't want to have to deal with avoiding Adam and Jake. Now Faye avoiding Jake had been easy as he was avoiding her as well.

If she was honest with herself she wasn't exactly proud of some of the things she had said to Jake the day before, but did he honestly care about her? Because it really didn't feel like it at all lately, something was always missing, Faye blamed that damn vial. It had been there since before they had decided to get together and now it was like that thing was more important than her.

The doorbell ringing interrupted her thoughts and she wondered who was ringing the bell, Jake, Melissa and Diana all knew where the spare key was. And her mom was in her car and the door key was always secured to her keychain, unless she just had too much to carry. Faye groaned slightly as she got up and headed over to the door, still having a slight limp from her twisted ankle.

When Faye reached the door she didn't bother looking through the glass to see who it was and when she saw Adam standing there she cursed herself for not being more careful. The two stared at each other for a while, neither knowing what to say to the other. Faye didn't want a repeat of the beach and neither did Adam, who finally spoke,

"How are you feeling?" he asked knowing it was a neutral ground in case anyone else from the Circle was around,

"I feel like I've been hit by a bus." she told him a slight sarcastic tone in her voice as she crosses her arms over her chest.

"What are you doing here anyway?" she asked him, she didn't really want him to be here. Although she was sure that it wasn't really Adam that hurt her she still didn't really want to be alone with him in case anything happened again.

"I wanted to check you were okay, not just okay from what happened at the beach." He told her causing her to frown slightly,

"I heard about the argument with Jake." he told her a little sheepishly, he knew it wasn't really any of his business. Adam and Jake had never been friends but they were all part of the same Circle, bound or not.

"That's not really any of your business." Faye told Adam sharply "Now I have better things to do than freeze to death while talking to you, so are we done?" she asked hoping he would just agree and leave but today luck was not on her side.

"No, I'm not done." he replied slightly more forcefully than he intended and he saw Faye's hand twitch like she was ready to defend herself this time if anything did happen,

"I wanted to check you were okay... and to apologize for what happened at the beach" Adam said before carrying on "I honestly don't know what happened but it won't happen again. I would never hurt you or anyone in the Circle Faye, you have to know that," he said and Faye knew he was telling the truth.

She had known Adam her whole life and knew that the only reason he would hurt someone was if they hurt him or the Circle so something had to be off with him. But Faye didn't want to go down that road again, last time she had asked questions she had been hurt.

"Look are you going to come in, or are you going to turn into a popsicle?" she asked him, she was starting to shiver and she really didn't want to be standing on her ankle more than she needed to.

"I'm not coming in," he told her before making a split second decision, "But you're coming out." he said offering her his hand. Faye just looked at him sceptically and raised an eyebrow, he really expected her to go out in this. After a few seconds she realised he wasn't giving up so she let out a sigh,

"Fine, but close the door I need to change first." she told him both only just realising she had answered the door in jogging bottoms and one of Jake's sweatshirts.

Adam decided not to push his luck and go wait in his truck he shut the door to the Chamberlain house then walked down the drive to the truck, switching on the engine and turning the heater up.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie stared at the door for a moment. She looked back at the nervous expressions of her friends and sighed as she opened the door. It was time to sit through the class with the teacher who might know who they are and might be out to kill them. They took their seats just as their mysterious teacher showed up. Just like before, his eyes drifted to the Circle members longer than the rest of the class. The Circle tried to avoid eye contact.

"Good morning students," Mr. Sanders said as placed his books on his desk. "I hope you had enough time to process my first class because we will start with the project I asked of you," He said. "Now, anyone knows what folkloric topic you want to write about?"

Most of the class shook their heads and the ones who didn't said nothing. The teacher, however, looked far from disappointed.

"I am not very surprised at that," He assured. "I understand this is the first time you are all taking a class like this so you all still have to figure out your own efficient methods of study. The good news though, is that I have written a book about various Folkloric topics; although maybe a notebook would be a more fitting word as it has my own notes on different Folkloric topics from different experiences I have had. I don't really have it for sale as I prefer to use it for teaching, which now suits our purposes. However, the copies are on the School Library, which I happen to run now as the old librarian retired. So, grab your things and follow me."

Mr. Sanders headed for the door and one by one the rest of the class followed him leaving the four Circle members as the last people in the class. The Circle looked at each other. They were all unwilling to go, not knowing what awaited them. What would be in this book? Would there be something about them? Would their secret be out? They heard Mr. Sanders asked where they were from the hallway and they slowly went to follow the rest of the class.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

The library of Chance Harbor High School was actually pretty big, in fact besides the gym it was the biggest room in the building. Cassie had never stepped foot into the library since her arrival into Chance Harbor, but looking around Cassie didn't know what the library didn't have. There was a section for fiction novels and anything that would be considered pleasure reading to one side. On the other side was the school section. The section that had textbooks and resources to use for essays, basically the non-fiction stuff. In the back of the room there were a few computers by the windows and then there was the checkout counter. There was nothing really special about it. There was just a return book bin and a small computer used to probably check out books. The only reason why Cassie eyes turned to it was because Mr. Sanders had gone there to drop off his stuff.

"Go to the back room. I'll be with you in a minute." Mr. Sanders told the group and the class started to walk that way.

"Back room?" Cassie whispered to Diana.

"Sometimes called the study room. It's where you go if you want peace and quiet while writing a report or reading a book or something. It's also where book club meets. You have never been back here before?" Diana found it strange that Cassie had never once set foot in the library.

"No," Cassie mumbled as they got to the door leading to the back room. Cassie saw a sign on the door for book club. It advertised that the first meeting would be next Tuesday and to drop by if you were interesting in joining. Cassie realized she had no interest even though she had been in a book club back before she moved to Chance Harbor. She just didn't have time or even cared about reading a book and then discussing the book with other people, even though she used to think that was fun. Cassie then realized how much she had changed since she moved.

Walking into the back room there were just lots of tables. On one of the tables was a pile of books that Cassie assumed were copies of Mr. Sanders's notebook. Cassie, Diana, and Melissa all took a table as far away from everyone else that they could. Cassie sat next to Diana with Melissa in front of her. They wondered why Adam decided to skip class but they blame it on the teacher. They didn't have time to talk much about that though because Mr. Sanders walked into the back room at that moment.

"Okay, we need someone to pass out the books." Mr. Sanders looked around and then saw the Circle. "How about you three?" They looked at each other and didn't say anything. They didn't even look at the teacher. "You guys seem pretty quiet. You're sort of an anti-social group. Just sticking together as though you're bound to each other or something." Cassie had to bite the inside of her lip to stop from commenting. Of all the words he had to use the one he picked was bound? While they weren't bound together anymore it was pretty weird. The four of them looked at each other all wondering the same thing. Just a really weird teacher or did he know something?

The group chose not to comment. "Well?" Mr. Sanders asked, but they didn't even look at him.

"I'll hand them out," Sally finally volunteered and Cassie found herself thanking Sally in her mind. A couple of other people also volunteered and the books started to be handed out.

Cassie told herself to stay reaction less for the entire class since she woke up in the morning but she couldn't help but gasp as she looked at the cover. The title was Folkloric Research but it was the image that shocked her. It had a bonfire and a circle surrounding it; just like the day they bound their circle. She looked up to the teacher and saw an amusement in his eyes before walking away without saying a word. First he used the word bound to describe them and now this. Cassie found herself getting really scared of this guy. What did he know and how? The rest of the Circle stared at the book stunned, especially Diana. Before they could comment to each other though, Mr. Sanders took the floor.

"So, everyone sitting in each table will work in group for the project and you will have until next week to write the essay for me. If it helps you get organized, write the essay with two for each of you regardless of how big your group is," He added. "If you need help, I will be at my desk organizing some books."

As soon as he walked away Cassie opened the book, her friends moving their heads to the side to read as well. The more they read the more nervous they got. It was like an encyclopedia of everything they have faced since they realized they were witches, and then some. It got notes about the Voodoo totem Lee used to get some of Faye's power for her psycho girlfriend, which made Melissa and Diana grimace in worry. It also got information on demons, stating that some cultures depicted them as having a snake form for possession and that they could be destroyed by drowning or burning them but that also a powerful witch could obliterate them along with the vessel with dark magic. Cassie shuddered at the thought as she remembered Blackwell destroying Samuel and the demon inside him. It was the next topic, however, that guarantee them this was as serious as a heart attack.

Cassie gulped, Melissa gasped, and Diana stared in utter disbelief. The ceremony and words they used to bind their circle were written there.

"Fire, earth, metal, air, water and blood. By these elements we bind the circle and follow in the steps of our ancestors who pledged themselves to fight against the forces of darkness. When evil assails us, when fear weakens us, when dissent threatens us, in the circle we will find our power. We come to this place alone, but leave bound as one. With this oath, our journey begins together."

Cassie closed the book abruptly and shook her head. They all looked at each other as they all read the words they knew so well. Once they had used those words to bind their circle. The words had repeated in their heads so many times, especially after they realized they had lost their solo magic by binding together. They had often repeated the words to themselves wondering if they had done the right thing.

"Look at this," Diana said, the only one who still had the book open. "Once bound to a circle a witch loses all solo magic, but when all six members of a Circle are together they are stronger than one could ever be alone. This leaves pros and cons to whether binding a Circle is the right option. This topic along with all pros and cons is further explained in the following pages. It is also worth noting that if a witch has Dark magic in them they will have solo power even though they are bound to a Circle."

The three young witches looked at each other. Was this guy just getting really good research somewhere? The Circle was really starting to doubt that though. "All right, if that is not a sign that this guy knows about us then I don't know what it is." Cassie said and Melissa and Diana agreed, but choose not to talk more about this now. No, not in front of the entire class and this teacher. They would wait and talk more about this later. Right now they had an essay to start writing and they all knew which topic they were going to do. They were going to write about the pros and cons are binding a Circle.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

The class continued for about an hour but the Circle members just couldn't focus on writing the essay. They were too nervous and worried. Finally Mr. Sanders dismissed the class and told them they could take the book to continue in their houses and they were to give it back after their project next week.

The Circle started to leave, but were stopped by Mr. Sanders. "You four, a word for a minute." They stopped and looked at him. "I believe I heard you were friends with Faye Chamberlain and Adam Conant?" They nodded. "Well please include them in your group and fill them in on what's been going on in class?" They nodded and started to leave, but Mr. Saunders spoke once again. "It's so strange her missing class the first two days and for Adam to do the same when he was here yesterday. I hope they are okay."

"Faye was just feeling a bit sick, sir. She'll be fine. Adam I am not sure, though." Diana answered honestly, but wondered if maybe they had been a little rush assuming the Balcoins had hurt Faye. Maybe it had been Nicholas Sanders.

"That's good," Mr. Saunders answered. "You three better get to your next class. That is if you're not skipping again." They froze and then looked at each other and then back at Mr. Saunders. He was not looking at them and the Circle decided that this was a good time to leave before he said anything else.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Adam stopped the car right near the beach where Faye got hurt. The last thing Faye wanted was to be back at this beach. "What are we doing here?" Faye asked just a little scared. Was Adam going to freak out again?

"I think you deserve to know the truth," Adam told Faye. "You got to promise not to tell anyone and I'll tell you everything." Faye looked into Adam's blue eyes. They had been friends forever, but they had never been close. In fact before the Circle stuff the two had barely spoke to each other, but Faye wanted to know the truth. She needed the truth.

"Okay," Faye told Adam. "Tell me and I'll tell no one. I swear." Adam knew Faye could be bitchy. She was mean at times and wild, but Faye had never broken her word.

"Well I guess I have to go back to the day John Blackwell died to make you understand." Faye gave Adam a questioning look. The events surrounding John Blackwell's death had changed everything for most of the Circle. It had brought Faye and Jake together. It had caused Diana to run tail and leave and for Cassie to go into a sort of depression from all the things she had lost. It had changed things, but as far as Faye knew it had no effect on Adam.

"When I was there in the abandoned house, John Blackwell was so close to me, but I couldn't do anything. I was helpless on the floor as Cassie and Diana had to save me. Save all of us." Adam stared at the beach at this point. "Then the next day you guys gave me the skull." Faye remembered the conversation. She remembered when they were talking about getting rid of the skull. She remembered Melissa commenting that she couldn't take it and she had commented that they couldn't trust it to the two dark princess or the former witch hunter. Everyone had decided Adam was the right person to take it.

"That night it was on my desk and I was just looking at it. I put my hand on top of it and could feel it giving me power. It felt good, but it did scare me. The dark power. I had planned to leave the next day to get rid of the stupid thing, but then I got caught up in Cassie's guardianship issues." Faye had to bite her lip to not comment on Cassie's guardianship was not the right time for a comment on that. "The skull stayed in my room and it kept drawing me in. When everything was done I went to a beach far away to bury the skull, but I couldn't. I couldn't leave it far away, so I came back and buried it here."

"Here?" Faye asked and looked at the beach. That skull was buried so close to them.

"Here. I've tried to ignore it, but it keeps on drawing me in. The night you girls had your sleepover... well, let's just say I think Diana nightmare problems were my fault." Faye looked at Adam shocked. Faye knew that nightmare problem plus what happened the next day with Diana creating the storm was what was causing problems between Diana and Cassie. Diana blamed Cassie for her dark magic burst. "The skull just keeps giving me power. I need it for some reason."

"Why do you need it?" Faye asked, confused.

"I don't know." Adam answered truthfully. "Like I said, I just need it. The other night you got too close to the skull." Faye looked at Adam. "I just lost it. Somehow the skull took control of me. It made me hurt you." Faye knew Adam was telling the truth. "I never wanted to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt anyone. Please forgive me."

Adam was pleading with Faye and Faye nodded. "Yeah, it's okay." Adam smiled. "That skull is dangerous, but it's powerful. We need to figure out why it wants you." Adam nodded and it felt good to have Faye know the truth. At least he knew she understood what was going on. No one else in the Circle would understand. Jake would probably scream at him and tell him he was an idiot. While he at one time loved both Cassie and Diana and they at one time loved him, he knew they wouldn't understand. They would probably freak out. Melissa is too good sometimes. Whatever was going on with the skull was not something she could take.

Faye was always the logical choice to understand though. With her quest for power last year she understood wanting something like this. Adam could also see Faye was starting to get upset with her solo magic. Sure she was a one women show again, but she wasn't powerful. Not nearly close in power to Cassie or Diana. Adam knew Faye wanted more power and Adam was starting to get an idea. On how to help Faye and then maybe Faye would help him understand more about his connection to skull.

Adam got out of the car and went to the other side. He opened up Faye's door. "Come on," Adam said holding out his hand for Faye. Faye gave Adam a look confused. "Your ankle is hurt, right?" Faye nodded. "Lean on me and I'll help you walk."

"Walk where?" Faye asked as she got out of the car.

"You'll see." Adam said as they started to walk towards the skull.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie was in Melissa's room packing up her bag when Melissa walked in. "You going somewhere?"

"Yeah, home," Cassie answered and Melissa gave her a look. Cassie held out her hand and papers flew off of Melissa's desk. "My powers are back. They came back not too long ago."

"That's great," Melissa said with a smile. "How long did it take?"

"I would say almost exactly a day of being powerless." Cassie made a face at the memory. It was hard being powerless since becoming a witch and having a lot of power, especially since they were in a dangerous situation now. Cassie wanted to be able to protect her friends and she couldn't do that without her powers. "I hope that never happens again. At least not to me or Diana." Melissa nodded understanding. She couldn't imagine being powerless and she wasn't even as powerful as Cassie. "I better get going so Diana can come back and not have to be around me."

Cassie turned around and Melissa could see how sad she was. Melissa couldn't let Cassie walk away like this. "Hey Cassie," Melissa said causing Cassie to turn around. "You know it's not you. Diana just needs time adjust to everything. The dark power, being back here in this town after her summer trip, being with you. She'll come around. She always wanted a sister when she was younger and I know for a fact she loves you."

Cassie smiled. "Thanks Melissa and thanks for letting me stay here. I know we haven't always been that close."

"It was no problem. Besides we're friends. Feel free to stop by anytime you want." Melissa got up and gave Cassie a hug and Cassie returned it. "See you soon." Cassie nodded and started out of the house.

"Bye Mr. Glaser. Thanks for letting me stay the night," Cassie said to Melissa's father before she left.

"It was good finally meeting you. I miss Amelia. We were pretty good friend's years ago. I hope to see more of you." Cassie smiled and nodded at Patrick Glaser before leaving the house.

She slowly started on her walk back to her house. When she got to the house she noticed something strange. Her front door was opened a crack and Cassie knew she hadn't left it that way. She was always careful to lock her door. She was on high alert as she slowly opened the door and then took hold of her bat. After she had nearly hit Diana with it she had decided to keep the bat besides the door just in case she needed it.

Slowly she walked into the living room bat held up in front of her. She saw movement and swung. "What the hell?" A familiar voice said and then Cassie realized she had just swung her bat at Jake, who had avoided the swing. "What the hell is with the bat?"

"I thought you were a Balcoin," Cassie said finally calming down realizing her home wasn't being invaded by her evil siblings. Jake took a step closer to Cassie but Cassie held out her bat at him causing him to stop. "Wait before you get close, are your hands clean?"

"What?" Jake asked confused.

"Your hands. You don't have any of that sand on it do you?"

"No," Jake answered.

"Are you sure? You didn't get any of that stuff into my house did you?"

"No, I'm keeping it under lock and key. I'm not going to let anymore of it be wasted and I'm not going to let anymore of it hit either you or Diana. I promise you." Cassie took a deep breath and lowered the bat.

"You better because if I get any more of that stuff on me I swear I will actually hit you with this." Cassie warned Jake lifting the bat up into the air to prove her point. She didn't want to have to run to Melissa's house again powerless and have to explain how she once again ended up being hit by the sand.

Jake took hold of the bat and took it away from Cassie. "I'm going to take this to make sure you don't hurt anyone. Namely me." Cassie laughed as Jake put the bat down on the floor.

"What are you doing hanging out in my house while I'm not here anyway?" Cassie asked as she took a seat. She was really getting tired of people just walking into her house. It was one thing when she was home, but now her Circle was just walking in when she wasn't home.

Jake himself didn't sit. He was standing and was starting to pace. "I was hoping Faye would be here with you. Where were you anyway?"

"Melissa's house." Jake gave Cassie a look. "What? We're friends. Besides the fact is I needed to hide someplace since your precious v..."

"Oh, just drop it." Jake yelled causing Cassie to shut up. Jake was really getting agitated and Cassie thought this might not be the best time to poke fun at him and his vial. Too bad she had a couple of good comments in her head. "I went to talk to Faye and couldn't find her. Please tell me she was at Melissa's house."

"No," Cassie said calmly "She came over last night and she wasn't looking too good" she told him, not knowing how much he knew about the injuries Faye had.

Jake honestly didn't know how to respond to that, "How bad is not good?" he asked his teeth gritted together in what Cassie assumed was anger.

"Uh..." Cassie said not sure if it was a good idea to tell Jake how bad it was right now, but she really had no other choice, " A lot of it was minor" she added trying to calm him down a little "a couple of bruises and a bruised ankle" Okay so she was under exaggerating, a lot. But it seemed to calm Jake a little bit but the worst was still to come.

"There were some major injuries too" Cassie said slowly watching Jake carefully "She had bruised ribs and a sprained wrist, that is why she reacted the way she did at the house" Cassie felt really bad, she could see that telling Jake how bad Faye was was hurting him, but he had to know right? "She also had a huge bruise on her shoulder, it was spreading across her back and down her arm slightly" she finished.

But Jake didn't take the news well. He punched the wall right next to him so hard he made a hole in the wall. "Jake, calm down, no reason to take your anger out on my house. Faye is fine now, we patched her up. We probably just missed her, she may have gone to Melissa's after I was gone."

"She's injured," Jake yelled. "Someone hurt her and we don't know who. She's avoiding me and my questions about it and now we can't find her. There's something wrong here." Cassie went over and put her hand on Jake's shoulder to try and help him calm down.

"Jake, calm down. I'm sure Faye just went out or maybe her mother took her to the doctors."

"Ms. Chamberlain is still away at that meeting with the superintendent or looking for a new vice principal or whatever the hell she was doing." Jake reminded Cassie who had totally forgotten that Dawn was away doing something for the school. "She's your guardian shouldn't you remember this stuff."

Cassie shrugged. Truthfully with everything that had happened the last few days Cassie had forgotten that Dawn had told her she would be away for a while. "Look I'm sure Faye is fine where ever she is and would tease you if she knew you were worrying this much over her." Cassie knew Faye had been injured, but she truthfully believed Faye would be okay now. She didn't think there was any reason to worry.

"You've got to help me find her," Jake said right away causing Cassie to back up and look at him. "Please Cassie. You have to help me."

'Me?" Cassie questioned and pointed at herself. "I don't know if you haven't noticed but Faye and I aren't exactly the greatest of friends. I have no clue where she might be."

"I'm with what Melissa said the other day on this point. The two of you are better friends then either would like to admit." Jake told Cassie and continued talking before Cassie could make a comment. "Also you want to protect our Circle don't you?" Cassie didn't say anything to that. "Faye could be in serious trouble. Balcoin related trouble and if I'm going up against the Balcoins who better to have by my side then another Balcoin?"

"Didn't you say the exact same thing to me yesterday?" Cassie asked and then looked at Jake's face. He was begging her to help and Cassie couldn't just say no. "Fine, I'll help you look for Faye, but I am sure she is fine and you're just making a big deal about nothing."

"Thank you," Jake said and hugged Cassie before running out the door. Cassie followed and closed the door behind her not bothering to lock it this time. It wasn't like the lock was doing much good anyway.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Adam, what are you doing?" Faye asked. She was still wary of him, even if he seemed back to his normal self, and she was much weaker than usual. The tea Diana had given her earlier was still wearing off, so she was sleepy as well. It would be very bad for her if Adam went black-eyed evil again.

Adam waved her over. "I think I have a way to help you." he was pawing at the sand like a five-year-old trying to build a castle or dig a moat.

Faye knelt down next to him, horror and astonishment rising in her chest as she saw something that looked like crystal. "Adam…"

"Just wait." He said.

A few minutes later he had the skull uncovered, and was cautiously brushing off specks of sand. Adam could feel how nervous Faye was, and how she wanted to run. She also wanted to take the skull and see how much power it really held, but her fear was overpowering that urge. He took it in his hands, trying to keep the power from flooding him like it had last time. Slowly, he took just enough, then channelled it towards Faye. He willed it to undo what he'd done.

Faye was nearly about to run when she noticed something; she was becoming less tired, and suddenly the ache in her shoulder was fading. She glanced back at Adam. He was still holding the skull, unmoving, but now she could feel the power flowing from him into her. She knew he had to be very powerful to be healing her without touching her, and that scared her even more.

Eventually the rest of the pain faded away, until Faye could move freely as she had before. She quickly pulled off the bandages that covered her. "Adam, what did you do?"

"I fixed you." He explained. "I know that I hurt you, and I didn't mean to. Please, Faye, it's just my way of trying to make up for that."

"I… okay. Thanks." said Faye. It had been a long time since Adam had spoken to her like she was a friend.

For a long moment they stood there, just looking at each other. "Did it work?" Adam asked at last. "I mean, are all your injuries gone?"

"Yeah." Faye said, nodding. She glanced at the skull. "While we're here… you think I could try what you did?"

"I don't know about that." Adam took a step in front of the skull, making Faye jump back. She half expected him to attack again. He smiled, his face lightening. "I think I have a better idea."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie looked over at Jake again as they walked towards the boathouse both hoping that Faye would be there. She hadn't shown up yet, and now Cassie was looking for her alongside Jake, more to give moral support that anything else. He had a worried expression and she felt like she should say something to him, but just couldn't think of anything that would make him feel better. She knew, better than anyone, what it felt like to have your heart heavy with concern, and knew that anything she said would just sound silly and superficial.

Her own heart also felt heavy, though, with the impossibility of making him feel better. God, it was just so unfair that they had to be in these situations all the time, they never got a moments peace!

"Are you ok?" Jake's voice brought her back. She looked at him with a weird mix of gratitude and guilt. He was worried about Faye but still cared enough to ask her how she was.

"I'm fine" she lied. She just wanted all of them to be ok, that was all.

They arrived and Jake held the door open for her. They walked inside and Cassie immediately saw that Melissa and Diana were there already, each one with a hot drink. But Faye wasn't around.

"Where's Faye?" Jake asked the moment they got close enough.

"Hello to you too!" Diana answered, without humour besides the joke. "I haven't seen her, actually. I'm..." she paused as she saw the look on Jake's face "Sure, she's fine. Probably bored out of her mind but you know Faye," she concluded, obviously not wanting to make Jake get more crazy.

"We were about to call her" Melissa told them and Cassie saw she was holding her cell. "Again. We've been trying all day".

"Try again". Jake told her, putting his hands on his pockets. Melissa raised an eyebrow but seeing the worry on his face started pushing buttons.

Cassie sat next to Melissa but gave Diana a fast smile, she was telling herself that she needed to respect Diana's space, but the truth is that she felt a little satisfied when Diana looked at her in surprise because she choose to sit next to Melissa.

Jake was up, looking around and seemed so anxious that Cassie had to look away, she honestly didn't think she could handle any more stress.

"Damn! She isn't answering" Melissa rolled her eyes in frustration. "Where is she? Faye? Where are you? We are freaking out! Call me!" And she hung up, hoping Faye would listen to her message and call her back.

Diana took a heavy breath. "She was hurt. She shouldn't be walking around by herself."

"She is so frustrating" Jake said in a bitter voice. Cassie just couldn't say anything, the worrying about Faye was starting to get to her.

One of these days, she thought, I'm going to get an ulcer.

Well, at least then she would have a good excuse to hide from all the stress.

"This is bad!" Melissa said suddenly, since she had called Faye all she had done was stare at her phone willing it to ring. Cassie understood she just couldn't drink anything anymore. "What if something else has happened?"

"I'll look for her." Jake said at them, obviously Melissa's comment had made him more adamant about finding Faye.

"Where?" Cassie asked him, her voice sounding weird. "We have gone everywhere..." she couldn't finish. Diana grabbed her hand but didn't have an answer.

"Let's go everywhere again." She said in a voice that made it sound final. All of them started to get up and get their things. They needed to find Faye.

As they got up they heard the bell above the door ring, Diana was the only one to look to the door and saw who came through. She grabbed Cassie's arm causing the others to turn and watch, frozen, as Mr. Sanders came walking into the boathouse before sitting in one of the booths.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye looked at the skull. "Come on, won't you let me touch it." Faye wanted to be as super charged as Adam. She wanted more power and that skull had a ton. The two could easily share it.

"No, it's too dangerous. This thing is able to control me." Adam told Faye. "But I think I can transfer some power from me to you." Faye gave Adam a look. He was going to give her his power. "I'll do this if you promise to never touch the skull."

Faye looked at the skull one more time, but then nodded. "Okay, power is power. What do I care where it comes from." Adam gave Faye a look. "I promise to never touch the skull. It's all yours." Adam smiled and held out his hands. Faye looked at them but then put her hands in his.

It took a couple of minutes and Faye didn't think it would work for a while, but then she felt it. She felt the powers come out of Adam's arm and into her. She felt the powers travel up her arms and go through her body. It felt good. She felt power, as though she could do anything. She could make it storm and make it stop when she wanted. She could destroy entire buildings and do anything. She hadn't even realized Adam took his hands away as she was so caught up in the power.

"Feels good right?" Adam asked remembering the feeling he had when he took power from the skull. He remembered feeling he could destroy the entire world if he wanted. Faye nodded.

"This is only a fraction of the power you have, not even half right?" Faye asked and Adam nodded. Faye couldn't believe how much power Adam had inside of him. He was probably just as powerful as one of the Balcoin if not more. "What do you plan to do with all that power?"

Adam looked at the sand. "I really don't know Faye."

"Come on. This type of power that you have isn't the type of power you used to trick your way into getting into a club or buying alcohol. It's the type of power you get for a reason. It's the type of power you used to fight bad guys and save the world or..." Faye paused as the next thought came to mind, but decided she had to continue. This was a real possibility. "Or it's the type of power you use to destroy the world." Adam gave Faye a look, but knew she was right. "Which one is it?"

"I don't know," Adam answer truthfully again.

"You have to have some idea. You're here taking power from the skull for a reason."

Adam nodded. "I believe there is a reason, but I don't know what. I think the skull needs me for something. It needs me to do something for it."

Faye was confused at the way Adam was talking. "The skull is not alive." Faye pointed out.

"I'm not sure about that anymore. I think it's aware." Faye gave Adam a look hoping he would explain further. "I think it knows things and needs something done. It wants me to do it, but I don't know what it wants right now. I need to figure it out."

"You're going to do it?" Faye asked and Adam nodded. "Why?"

"I don't have a choice." Adam told Faye. "I have to do this now that I have this power." Faye nodded completely understanding. Adam gets up and started walking towards the boathouse.

"Where are you going?" Faye asked.

"I have to go to work. You coming? I'll give you food on the house." Faye looked at Adam for a minute

"As long as it's not chicken wings." she told him before she went after him.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Go, go, go!" Melissa ordered, shoving Diana, Cassie, and Jake into the back room of the Boathouse. Diana stumbled, nearly falling, but everyone managed to get out before Mr. Sanders noticed. The breathlessly slammed the door shut and collapsed on various chairs.

"Why is he here?" Cassie asked. "Of all the places he had to go for food, it had to be here."

Jake was about to say something when Faye and Adam stumbled in through the door that led outside. "Faye!"

Faye was taken by surprise when Jake trapped her in a bear hug, lifting her feet off the floor. "What?"

"I haven't seen you all day!" He exclaimed before giving her a quick kiss. "I missed you."

Faye blushed, rather overwhelmed by the attention. "I… um… I wasn't feeling well, so I stayed home. Sorry." She was afraid he would bring up her now non-existent injuries, but he was too happy to see her. That's when she and Adam noticed that the whole Circle was in the back room.

Adam said, "Umm… why are you guys in here?"

"Nicholas is out there." Melissa explained, leaping to her feet and pacing nervously. "It's like he's following us."

"Who?" Faye asked confused.

"The new teacher." Melissa told Faye. "The one you still haven't met yet."

"Maybe I should meet him now." She suggested and looked like she was about to walk out the door and into the front.

"What?" Jake was already in ultra-protective mode and it'd only been about a minute since Faye had walked in. "Um, no, you shouldn't."

"Why not?" Faye said. She loosened Jake's grip around her waist and slipped away, headed for the door. "I mean, we might as well face him. We can't hide in here forever."

"Yeah, but maybe we should wait until we know more about him. He could be really dangerous for all we know. Besides you'll see him when you return to school. That's a safer place to meet him." Cassie told Faye and the rest of the Circle agree expect Adam who stayed silence.

Faye looked at Adam. The two stared at each other for a second and then both decided it was better to agree with the Circle for now. They didn't want them to start questions where the two had been. "Okay, then what do we do?" Faye asked the group, but no one had an answer. It was finally Adam who spoke up.

"I can distract him letting you guys sneak out. I have to get back to work anyway and it would look weird if I wasn't out there."

"Sounds like a plan," Melissa said and everyone nodded seemingly agreeing to it.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Everyone waited for Adam to go out and distract Mr. Sanders, so they could leave. Adam for his part was getting a little nervous even though it was his idea in the first place. "Maybe we can figure out a different way for all of us to sneak out?" Adam commented after a minute.

Faye rolled her eyes. "You work here! You have to go back to work anyway, oh bartender overlord," She said.

Adam bit his bottom lip and walk toward the teacher. He took a deep breath as he approached hoping Mr. Saunders wasn't there to kill him or something. Then Adam realized even if Mr. Saunders was in this town to kill the Circle he would be more subtle then just walking into a public place and doing it. Besides with all his extra magic Adam was sure he could take the middle age guy. "Can I help you?" Adam put a fake smiled on his face. Mr. Saunders looked up from the menu and smiled at Adam.

"Hello there Adam," Mr. Sanders said. "You work here?" Mr. Saunders truly sounded surprised with calmed Adam down a bit. Maybe he had just picked a random place to eat and hadn't walked in here because of Adam or anyone else in the Circle.

Adam nodded. "My dad owns the boathouse. I believe I've been working here most of my life. You know it's cheaper to have your kids waiting tables then to hire someone else." He explained trying to keep his voice even.

"I see," Mr. Sanders nodded. "Is that why you missed class today?"

Adam smiled sheepishly, trying to look embarrassed while glad on the inside that he invented an excuse for him. "Yeah, my dad needed the extra help. Sorry about that," Adam answered. "So what can I get you?"

"Just a salad and a lemonade, please," He replied and handed over the menu.

Adam took the menu. "Sure thing. What type of dressing would you like? We have ranch, blue cheese..." Adam continued listing the dressing hoping it would give the Circle time to escape. They were almost at the door and it looked like they were home free, but as fate will have it they didn't get there in time.

"So, do you find me creepy or something?" Mr. Sanders asked with a smirk as he turned around. The whole Circle froze and turned around, but they didn't reply. And Mr. Sanders decided to continue talking. "I mean you send Adam out here to distract me, which I'm assuming that was what you were doing." Adam didn't say anything, but the look on his face said busted. "While you five sneak out the door. By the way you're not the best at sneaking out. I saw you right away, so I ask again. Do you find me creepy or something?"

The Circle looked at each other. "Oh, you have no idea" Cassie thought shuddering looking at the teacher and then back at the rest of her Circle. They seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

When no replied to his bluntness he just looked at the entire Circle. He eyes stayed longer on Jake and Faye, the only two he hadn't met yet. "So I believe this must be Faye Chamberlain, if I'm not mistaken. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Uh?" Faye asked confused and looked at the rest of her Circle not sure what the teacher was asking her.

"I meant why hadn't you showed up in class these past two days?" Mr. Sanders asked.

"Oh that," She said suddenly feeling awkward. "I was sick but I will be back soon."

"Good," Mr. Sanders nodded. "I assigned you in a group project with your friends here; now just make sure you catch up by next week. Same goes for you Adam Conant." He added as Faye and Adam nodded.

Mr. Saunders then looked at Adam who hadn't left yet and raised an eyebrow. "Do you have any business with your fellow kinsmen or can you get my order?" He asked smirking.

Jake looked at Cassie, startled by his word choice. "Could he mean witch by kinsmen?" He wondered to himself. Adam didn't fail to notice the double meaning but he just shook his head and left.

"Well, then have a good evening," Mr. Saunders said and the Circle wasted no time in leaving.

When they were outside and out of earshot they Jake broke the silence. "Okay, I am not sure if he knows the truth but we would be stupid to ignore this situation."

Everyone nodded. Then Faye turned to leave but Jake grabbed her hand.

"Do you feel better?" He asked.

Faye nodded with a playful grin. "Much better, Mr-I-can't-be-a-day-away-from-my-girlfriend-without-worrying-she-was-abducted-by-aliens."

Jake rolled his eyes but smiled in relief.

"How did you get better?" Diana asked.

"I did a combination of meditation, yoga, and magic, and somehow it healed me," Faye lied but with enough pride in her voice to sound believable.

Melissa frowned. "Did you use any herbs?" She asked her completely interested. If what Faye did had healed her it could be useful in the future.

"No, but I did use energy from the ocean and the beach to fuel the spell," She answered.

Cassie and Diana glanced at each other feeling suspicious but they let it slid. For all they knew that could actually work. The Circle stood there staring at each other for a while. There were so many things they could talk about, but they didn't want to do it here and now.

"Well are we just going to stand here all day?" Faye asked.

"Diana and I should probably be getting back to my house before my dad worries." Melissa saw Diana and Cassie give each other a look. "Unless there is somewhere else you would like to be?" Melissa hoped Diana would take the hint and spend some time with Cassie. She truly believed Diana needed to talk and be with her sister if they were going to get past their problems. Melissa knew the two needed each other.

Diana looked at Cassie again, but shook her head. "Where else would I be?" Diana asked. "Bye guys." The two walked away and Cassie watched them get into Melissa's car and leave.

"Well how about you come back to my house?" Jake said putting his arm around Faye. "We can celebrate you being healed in the way you most like." Faye smiled and kissed Jake.

"I like the sound of that." Faye said. Cassie watched the two.

"Um, guys..." Cassie said as the two started to walk away. 'Not to get in the middle of your moment or anything, but Jake drove me here and it's not a short walk back to my house."

Faye looked at Cassie and then back at Jake. "You drove her here." jealousy was clearly in Faye's voice and Cassie rolled her eyes.

"She was helping me find you." Jake explained to Faye. "Come on Cassie. I'll give you a ride back." The three got into Jake's car and drove away.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye's eyes fluttered open and she immediately recognised the room she was in. Letting a small sigh escape her lips she rolled on to her back and looked at Jake whose back was facing her. She couldn't help but feel the significance of the way he was sleeping. Just a few days ago, had that little time really passed, he had had his arms wrapped around her the whole night worried that something would happen to her. But now they were back into their old routine, being distant with each other. Or was she just over reacting maybe Jake was worried about hurting her, but then again he hadn't been worried about hurting her a few hours ago before they both fell asleep.

Leaning over the side of the bed, Faye slipped her phone out of her jeans pocket and checked the messages, zero. Looking back at Jake she made up her mind and quickly typed the text,

I have an idea, meet me at the beach

Quickly sending the text she slid out of Jake's bed and tried to look around for something to wear. Quickly grabbing one of his sweatshirts off the floor she slipped it over herself before quietly slipping out of the room, grateful that Jake's door didn't creak. Heading downstairs Faye was just about to leave when she realised she didn't have the car with her. Hoping she would be back by morning Faye picked up Jake's keys and opened the front door.

She slipped through the small gap before closing the door quietly, she turned and started heading down the path towards the car. Halfway down the path she stopped, feeling like someone was watching her, she immediately looked up to Jake's room, but none of the lights in the house were on. Faye was glad she really didn't want to explain what was going on to Jake, she couldn't anyway she had promised Adam and she wasn't one to break a promise. Faye then looked over to Cassie's house and of course Cassie was sat watching her, so now she watched Jake's house at night? Ready to jump into Jake's bed as soon as she left?

She then felt her phone vibrate in her hand and carried on walking reading the text that simply said 'okay' Faye rolled her eyes, she hated it when people did that. There was a short text and then there was the horrid 'okay' texts that people sent out, really what was the point in them? Sliding into the car Faye quickly turned on the engine before driving away, she didn't want to linger outside Jake's and wake him up.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie tossed and turned. She opened her eyes and then closed her eyes again. She turned on her side and stayed like that for a minute. Then she opened her eyes and looked at the time. It was late. It was really late and Cassie couldn't get to sleep no matter what she does. Then again it wasn't unusual for Cassie to have sleepless nights. Being alone in the old house got her nervous sometimes. At times she thought she heard noises. Also she was haunted by nightmares of John Blackwell. The best night sleep she had gotten in a long time had been the night Diana had her nightmare. Being with her sister had been great.

Cassie thought about calling Diana. Maybe talking to Diana would help Cassie fall asleep like it did last night at Melissa's house. Then again Diana was probably already asleep and Cassie didn't want to bug her sister.

Deciding it was hopeless to try and sleep, Cassie decided to go downstairs and get something to eat. As Cassie was walking into the kitchen she noticed something weird. There seemed to be someone sneaking out of Jake's house. She was worried for a minute until she realized it was Faye.

Faye was only wearing one of Jake's sweatshirts that covered her body. She was slowly sneaking into Jake's car and Cassie was pretty sure Faye had seen her at the window. It was weird for Faye to be sneaking out of Jake's in the middle of the night. Usually Cassie caught Faye leaving fully dressed in her own cloths the next morning and Faye made no show to deny what had just happened. In facts at parts in the summer she had rubbed it in Cassie's face trying to make Cassie jealous. Cassie had chosen to ignore those comments then. Cassie thought about calling over to Faye and seeing what was going on but decided against it. She had no wish to hear about how Jake was in bed and besides Faye was already in the car and leaving.

Cassie went back to fixing herself a snack and poured herself a large glass of milk. When she was a kid and couldn't sleep her mom had always given her a little something to eat with a glass of milk. Then Amelia had taken Cassie back to bed and sung to her until she fell asleep. Cassie was hoping a snack and milk would help her since the singing part was out of the question.

As she was just done getting her snack and drink the phone rang. That was weird as this hour, but Cassie decided to answer it. "Hello," Cassie said.

"Cassie," Cassie heard Dawn's voice on the other end of the phone and smiled. She would admit it was nice to hear Dawn talking. Besides Diana, Dawn was the only other person in town that might actually count as family. Dawn had done a lot for Cassie in the last few months and Cassie had begun to think of Dawn like the aunt she never had. "I'm back home."

"That's great. How did your meeting or whatever go?" Cassie asked

"Fine, kind of upset I had to miss the first few days of school though. The first days are always my favorite. So how did everything go with school?"

"Fine," Cassie answered. "What's up with this new Folklore class?"

"Oh, that was an idea suggested by someone and I thought it would be good considering what's in this town." There was a pause as Dawn laughed. "Besides we had the perfect opportunity to put the class into action when Nicholas Sanders appeared out of nowhere and wanted to teach the class."

"Appeared out of nowhere?" Cassie asked. This was the first real information they were getting about their mysterious teacher.

"Yeah, just came running in one day and said he heard we were thinking of making this class and gave in his resume. He was highly over qualified to teach a high school class and it was just like why not add it. We have the extra money and it seemed like a class the students would enjoy. Also Mr. Sanders offered to be librarian in his free time and we need a new librarian since our old one retired. We got two positions filled for the price of one."

"Interesting," Cassie mumbled.

"How is he?"

"Who?" Cassie asked.

"Mr. Sanders. How is he at teaching? Is the class any good?"

"Yeah, pretty interesting although weird for us considering what we are." Cassie heard Dawn laugh. "But it's a good class and Mr. Sanders..." Cassie paused not wanting Dawn to worry about them. For all they knew Nicholas Sanders knew nothing and was just a weird teacher. "Is an interesting man."

"I got that feeling too." Dawn agreed, but Cassie knew they were talking about it in different ways. "I'm sure his class will be enjoyable for everyone."

"Yeah, so I'm glad your back. Maybe we'll see each other soon."

Cassie thought their conversation was over and was planning on hanging up but Dawn stopped her. "Do you have any idea where Faye is? She's not here and I'm a little worried."

Did she know where Faye was? Yeah, she had just seen Faye sneaking out of Jake's house, but she knew Faye wasn't going home. Not dressed like that anyway. Cassie knew that Faye was hiding the sexual relationship between herself and Jake from Dawn and Cassie didn't want to get Faye in trouble. "Oh, yeah I guess I forgot to mention. She's here."

"She's there?" Dawn asked confused.

"Yeah, she's fast asleep upstairs. Since we were both alone we decided just to have a sleepover. I couldn't sleep though." Cassie didn't have to say anymore about her not being able to sleep. Dawn knew she had nightmares at times.

"Well I'm glad the two of you are finally getting alone. Tell Faye when she wakes up that I'm home."

"Will do Ms. Chamberlain."

"Oh and Cassie, if you ever need to talk I'm here."

"I know Ms. Chamberlain." Cassie felt bad for lying to Dawn and wanted to get off the phone, but Dawn spoke once again.

"Also when we're not in school you can call me Dawn."

"Okay Ms. Cham... Dawn," Cassie said. "I'll see you soon."

"Yeah you have to come over for dinner tomorrow."

"Will do, goodnight."

"Goodnight Cassie." Dawn finally hung up and Cassie let out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding. Lying to Dawn had not been easy, but maybe it would make her and Faye closer. In fact, Cassie took out her cell phone and text Faye.

Ur mom called me. She's back and was lookin 4 u. Told er u were ova here. U owe me 1.

She send the text and went back to her snack knowing there was probably no way she was going to be getting any sleep that night.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

When Faye pulled up in the car park near the beach, she saw that Adam's car was already in one of the spaces. Turning off the engine she heard her phone vibrate and looked over at it, sat in the passenger seat where she had threw it when she got in the car.

Opening the text she saw it was from Cassie, what did she want now? Faye thought as she opened the text. Reading through the message quickly she let out a small sigh, damn her mom was home. Deciding not to text back, Faye opened the door and slid out of the car. She immediately felt the wind wiping around her and wished she had put her hair up before she left. Closing the door and locking the car Faye shoved Jake's keys into the pocket of the sweatshirt she was wearing and headed down to the beach.

It was weird to be here this late at night but Faye thought it looked peaceful, she saw Adam sat on the sand. She assumed he was near the skull or where it was buried. Seeing a figure out of the corner of his eye, Adam looked over to Faye and immediately raised an eyebrow as he saw what she was wearing,

"Really Faye?" he asked knowing she would know immediately what he was talking about. Faye just shrugged brushing her hair out of her eyes again,

"I was in a rush" she told him before sitting down beside him then she looked at him with a cheeky smile "And you know it looks good on me" she teased before looking out to sea. Adam looked over at Faye for a second before looking away again,

"So what did you drag me out of my bed for at this time in the morning?" Adam asked her, she was being very quiet and he thought she would get straight down to business but that hadn't been the case.

"So I was thinking..." she started but was interrupted by Adam,

"Dangerous thing for you to do" He said before getting hit in the arm by Faye, who then continued as if nothing had happened

"I saw a spell in Jake's family book, it was something about reading thoughts or feelings of another human being, like a telepath I guess" she said then gave a small shrug "Anyway I was thinking we could try and adapt the spell so that we can find out what the skull wants from you."

"So you want to read the skull's mind?" Adam said slowly "You do realise the skull isn't alive" he said repeating her words from earlier but Faye ignored him.

"You said the skull was telling you how to do things and what to do" she said "And we won't find out if we can read it until we try." she told him and he simply ignored her, he knew he wouldn't be able to win an argument against Faye...ever.

"Fine so what do we do?" he asked and Faye got out her phone seemingly texting but then she started reading,

"Okay first we need to make sure that the person, or in this case object is in view." she said looking at him realising he had a frown on his face "What?" she asked

"You have the instruction on how to read minds on your phone?" he asked "Why am I even surprised?" he added leaning closer to look at the instructions

"Well, I couldn't just rip the page out of Jake's book, so I took a picture instead" she said feeling quite proud of herself she had even reminded herself to delete it later so that no one would know she had even found the spell.

"Handy," Adam said, okay so it was a pretty good idea but he wasn't going to tell Faye that.

"So where's the skull?" she asked before Adam moved into a kneeling position and started to dig, like a child looking for treasure or a dog looking for a bone. Faye even had to move out of the way to stop herself being covered in sand, moving far enough away she started reading through the rest of the instructions to see if they needed to get anything in particular or do anything big.

When Adam finally uncovered the skull, Faye looked up from her phone. It was weird the skull seemed to be lit up, Faye then shook her head. Had the skull been trying to get to her too? Putting it down on the sand Adam looked at Faye, he had missed the way that Faye had looked at the skull,

"Skull in sight. Next" he said walking over to her and looking down at the phone,

"Uh next we get comfortable" she said and wasn't surprise when Adam gave her a weird look. "It can take a few tries to get into someone's mind let alone find anything," she explained "So take a seat," she told him patting the sand next to her and Adam did as he was told. Faye then continued "Join hands" she said offering her hand out to Adam who immediately took it.

Faye then put her phone back in her pocket and Adam looked at her confused,

"Distraction" she told him the continued "it says that we should focus on getting into the persons mind through something like their eyes or nose. Something about it being a journey into the body. Then you have to imagine you are at someone's brain and then kind of search" she said looking over at the skull with a thoughtful expression.

"But how can we get into the skull's brain, as they put it, when we don't know if it has a brain" Adam asked.

"Well, I guess we try the obvious place first" she suggested, so maybe she hadn't thought this plan all the way through.

"But can we trust it?" Adam asked then elaborated "I mean we know it wants something, but what if we find out it actually wants something different but led us off somewhere to double cross us." he said

"It's not alive Adam" she said repeating the words they had both said earlier "And anyway you should never trust anything if you can't see where it keeps its brain," she told him "We may not trust what we find, if we find anything, but it's all we've got" she said and Adam nodded,

"Fine, do we have to do this in sync or what?" he asked

"We have to go in the same way, but then once we get to the brain we can go our separate ways to search," she told him, it sounded so simple but they both had a feeling it wouldn't be as simple as the instructions lead it to be.

"Eyes," Adam said causing a confused look to come onto Faye's features then she nodded in realisation,

"Sure, you ready?" she asked and Adam nodded they both looked to each other for a second before looking over to the skull. It was now or never.


	6. Sisters

**Plotline writers – Forcystus5, xleamalfoyx, Coralinas, thefallenloveoflife,**

**Writers – Coralinas, Forcystus5, CharmedMilliE, ilove2dance, luisa Mendoza, thefallenloveoflife, witch-witha-B, TtylerMaria**

**Editors – flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B**

**Graphic Designers – xleamalfoyx, Charlene F.**

**Twitter Account – ImaGleekBaby, TSC_Project**

**Tumblr Account – witch-witha-B,**

**link:** **http (colon) (forward slash) (forward slash) .com(forward slash)**

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**Sorry I have to make the links look so confusing, but if I didn't they wouldn't show up. Please follow and subscribe to the two accounts, and help support us!**

**Disclaimer: We don't own The Secret Circle.**

Episode 6 – "Sisters"

Faye groaned as she rolled onto her side and felt her muscles protest, Jake's bed had never felt too uncomfortable before. And why did his room smell like the sea?

And why could she hear the ocean?

Faye let her eyes flutter open and saw Adam lying beside her, on the beach. Her eyes popped open as she tried to remember what had happened the night before, Adam went to roll over and Faye felt a tug on her hand. Pulling her hand out of Adam's and sitting up, a frown graced her face. She had fallen asleep on a beach with Adam, holding hands. It was so strange her mind was so hazy she couldn't even remember what they had been doing here.

Adam had been woken up when he felt a sharp tug on his hand and was frowning at the amount of light that was around, then he started to hear the sea and smell the ocean and he sat up before looking over to a just as confused Faye. It seemed like neither of them knew what the hell was happening or had happened and was unsure of what to say to the other. Finally Adam decided it was time to speak,

"So..." he started and Faye immediately turned to him and gave him a look before he shrugged "Remember anything?" he asked causing Faye to pull a thoughtful face,

"Flashes." she said after a while "Driving Jake's car, looking at my phone..." she said, trying to process what was going on.

Luckily, or in this case, unluckily for Adam he had had this kind of memory loss before and found it easier to gather his thoughts and memories and try to piece them all together,

"The skull." he said his head shooting over to where the offending object was sat looking innocent and he let out a sigh, anyone could have seen it while they were sleeping even the Balcoin's.

"You think it did something?" Faye asked, she was still slightly sceptical, they both knew the skull wasn't alive but ever since they knew they were witches she had started doubting everything that she had ever been told.

"More than likely." Adam said starting to bury it again in the sand just to be safe "I have a really bad feeling, it did something to us." he told her as he finished burying it and looked over to her and simply got a shrug in response.

"I feel fine." she told him "Bit of a headache, but nothing life threatening." she said taking out her phone from the pocket of Jake's Sweatshirt and frowning slightly as she saw the mind reading page she had been looking at the night before.

Adam saw the frown appear on her face and came over to see what was wrong, when he saw the page the memories started flooding back but there was nothing that indicated they had actually been able to get into the skulls mind. But still it gave Adam a bad feeling,

"Do you think it worked?" Faye asked him jolting him out of his thoughts,

"I think so." he said slowly, he had a feeling it had worked that they had found out what the skull wanted but the skull had taken what they had found away from them, hence the memory loss that morning.

"Then how come we don't know what the skull wants?" she asked slightly frustrated, she hated cryptic crap.

"Because it doesn't want us to." Adam said and got hit in the arm by Faye "Okay, _ow_." he said, glaring at her slightly, she had obviously gotten over the being-scared-of-him phase,

"Stop being cryptic, I hate cryptic," she told him "You think we got into the skulls mind, but we don't know what it wants and that is because it doesn't want us to know..." she said slowly "That makes absolutely no sense." she declared causing Adam to sigh,

"Our lives make no sense." he said a dull note in his voice. Faye simply rolled her eyes and stood up trying to brush all the sand off of Jake's sweatshirt.

"This is ridiculous." she told him "The mind reading thing obviously didn't work so we will find something else. I have to get back anyway." she said, checking the time "Jake'll be up soon and I can't be dealing with questions this early in the morning." she said turning and heading back up towards Jake's car so she could drive back to his house. Adam also stood and gave Faye a small wave as she drove past. He looked back to the lump in the sand, where the skull was buried, suspiciously. It may not have been alive, as Faye said, but he sure as hell didn't trust it.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie moved her head. She didn't want to get up. She just wanted to continue sleeping "Well I need the egg." Cassie thought she heard someone say. "Oh, where is the bread again. I keep on forgetting." What was someone doing in her house? "School today after a nice weekend. Have to go back to Mr. Sander's class. Wonder what will happen today?" Then Cassie in her half-awake state realize who voice it was it. It was Diana!

The thought caused Cassie to jump up and fall off the couch she had been sleeping on. "Diana?" Cassie called out looking around, but she couldn't hear Diana's voice anymore. Of course there was no reason for Diana to be here. She was at Melissa's house. Cassie sat down on the couch and looked down at the floor. Hearing Diana in the morning had made Cassie happy. She had felt like she wasn't alone. Why did she hear Diana's voice? Cassie wondered and then pushed the thought aside figuring she just missed her sister.

"What was I doing on the couch?" Cassie asked out loud and then tried to remember what happened that weekend. She had gotten no sleep Friday night after Dawn had called and very little Saturday night. She had been at Dawn's house for dinner yesterday and when she tried to start her car to go home it wouldn't start again. After all the hell that car went through from being put on fire to being flipped over it was a wonder it was working at all. Cassie had wanted to walk home, but Dawn had insisted on giving her a ride.

When she had gotten home Dawn had walked in with her to check on the house to make sure she had food and anything she needed. Cassie had told her to go home, but Dawn had insisted on coming in. She remembered lying on the couch. She must have fallen asleep. Cassie looked at the blanket that had been over her. Dawn must have put it over her. Was she still here?

"Dawn?" Cassie called out thinking maybe the voice had been hers. Cassie looked around and found a note on the kitchen table.

_Cassie, I'm going to take your car to someone to get fixed. You might just need a new one. I'll pick you up in the morning. Dawn._

Dawn had clearly left a long time ago, so Cassie couldn't have heard her. Besides Cassie had been sure it was Diana's voice. Once again Cassie put it off as missing her sister and then looked at the time. "Damn," Cassie mumbled and ran up the stairs. She barely had enough time to shower and get changed before she had to get to school. She was clearly skipping breakfast that day.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie sighed in frustration as she stared at the door. Once again they had to walk into this and everyone couldn't help but wonder: "Just what did Mr. Sanders know, and how?'

"Come on, guys, we have class," Faye said, and was the first to enter the classroom. The other four looked at each other. Faye was a little too excited about class, which never happened.

Cassie stared at Melissa since Melissa knew Faye best. "Why do I suddenly have alarm bells ringing in my head?" Cassie asked, getting really worried. Faye wouldn't do anything stupid. Then Cassie threw that idea out because this was Faye they were talking about. Stupid ideas were practically her middle name.

Melissa grimaced. "I think I have a good guess," She said solemnly as the rest of the Circle followed.

They sat close like they did in all classes this time with Faye sitting next to Adam; something that Cassie found slightly weird. The two while being a part of the same Circle had never really been that close. Cassie decided it was nothing and went to focus on their mysterious teacher once he arrived. Sanders once again did his look over the class eyeing the Circle longer than anyone else. He stared at Adam and Faye longer than the other three before addressing the class.

"I hope you have advanced with the essays but either way we are going to talk more about folklore today," Mr. Sanders said. "You can make all the questions you want, but since Miss Chamberlain missed the first two days I am going to let her pick the main topic."

Cassie gulped as Faye grinned. She knew that look. She was going to do something reckless. Cassie was praying her in head that Faye wouldn't be that stupid. She must know they had to stay under the radar in this class.

"Well, my friends were filling me in yesterday and with all the things you mentioned about Voodoo and the different origins of Folkloric magic I was wondering what can you tell us about Dark magic," Faye asked with a lot of interest in her voice.

Cassie cringed and looked at Diana. Diana seemed to be shocked frozen that Faye would mention that and Cassie was shocked too. Of all the topics, she just had to pick that one. She looked at the rest of the Circle and noticed their worried expressions.

Mr. Sanders stared at her for a moment but for once he didn't smirk. His face was stone-hard serious. The question had caught him off guard too. He had probably been expecting Faye to act just like her friends with him.

"Well, while I don't mind answering, could you please explain to me why you are asking about such a nefarious, almost forbidden, area of study?" He asked her.

Faye shrugged. "Well, I guess you could say I am curious," She answered vaguely, but gave a look at Cassie and Diana. The two had decided to look at their desk and keep their mouths shut.

The teacher frowned slightly, as if displeased with the answered. He ended up searching for a key in his bag and looked at Faye.

"Well, I could show you some really valuable and hard to find material on the subject but I have it in my office on the library," He replied. "Miss Matthews, could you go there and bring me the widest piece of brown leather paper I keep in my personal bookshelf inside there?" Sally nodded and left as he handed over the key. Mr. Sanders then looked at the class again.

"Well, can't say Dark magic is my favorite folkloric topic," He confessed. "Personally I prefer Shamanism and other more pleasant areas of study but yes, I know a lot about it. Do you want to know about something in particular?" The class was all looking at Faye after the teacher was done.

Faye nodded. "What can you tell me about its origins? As in the first family who ever practice it according to folklore?" She asked.

Cassie had to restrain herself so she didn't groan or start choking Faye in front of everyone. If she did that even if Mr. Sanders didn't know anything he would figure it out afterwards. Cassie gave Faye a look before looking back at her desk wondering 'Is she trying to expose us or something?' Mr. Sanders looked thoughtful for a moment as he looked at her and then at Cassie and Diana, which didn't exactly make them feel better.

"Well, like I said in the first class," Mr. Sanders began, "Some ancient cultures claimed that their magic was a gift from their polytheistic gods, like Hecate for the ancient Greeks and nowadays for the neo-pagan religion known as Wicca," He explained. "However, that belief surfaced all around the world so it is hard to pinpoint an exact timeline and location of the first family who ever practiced it, but it is easier to find it in separate continents. The only continent I am somewhat of an expert in the original families of Dark magic is Europe and…"

He was interrupted as Sally brought a poster size brown leather paper and hand it over to Mr. Sanders along with the keys. He looked at it for a moment and before his gaze turned to Cassie and Diana. The two were trying real hard to stay emotionless about the topic, but they were getting really uncomfortable.

"And this has a little more information about it," He finished and put the wide paper in the class board for everyone to see. Cassie shrunk in her seat, Diana stared with fear in her eyes, and even Faye looked shocked.

"Behold a copy of the Balcoin Family Tree in its entire splendor," He said dramatically with a wide smirk. Cassie and Diana once again gave Faye a look and very nearly hissed at her.

While Cassie was starting to get really freaked out by the teacher she couldn't help but noticed that this copy of her family tree wasn't really held in its entire splendor. For one, there was one generation missing; her own, much to her relief. Also, no one was named Blackwell there. Everyone was named Balcoin, including her father, except for the women that married into the family and from the look of the family tree John 'Balcoin' never married or had kids. This was a really good thing. Amelia had known a lot of the parents of the kids in this class. There was a chance the parents knew about John Blackwell and another chance the name might have been mentioned when Cassie came to Chance Harbor.

"Now, do you want me to explain about this ancient and powerful family of Dark witches?" He asked to Faye.

Faye hesitated for a moment, clearly surprise by the sudden turn of events, but she nodded. As long as it was already mentioned they might get some pretty good information from it.

"Well, as you can see Francis Balcoin is the first member of this family but according to folklore he was only the first on the family to ever practice Dark magic," Mr. Sanders stated. "From what history, legend, and fear can tell about this man, he only took the name Balcoin after he began practicing Dark magic but the knowledge behind the meaning of the word has been lost to pass of time," He explained. "Like I said before, the magic from true witches is inherited genetically, from a folklore-oriented point of view, and that includes Dark magic. However, even if Francis Balcoin was the first to use that last name he still had a father with a different last name, also lost to time, and thus, his magical genes were not dark at first. Therefore, the witch ancestors of the Balcoin line were not born with Dark magic," He claimed as Cassie and Diana both had looks of surprise in their faces.

Faye also looked interested. "Then what happened?" She pressed on. She knew Cassie and Diana would say to stop this now before something happened to expose them, but Faye realized they were getting valuable information.

"No one knows for sure," Mr. Sanders replied. "However, it is known that he somehow gained access to the Dark arts at the time of Inquisition, when the Catholic Church was executing many witches. Of course, now it is known that, unfortunately, most of those people were innocent. However, a lot of ancient traditions endured in Europe during the Middle ages and early Renascence, which were viewed as heretic and arcane. Magical in other words," He added with a smirk. "At any rate, many of those shady characters in the eyes of Catholics were burned at the stake by witch hunters."

The Circle was getting really uncomfortable by those words. What would the world think of them if the truth came out? What does God thinks of them? Then Mr. Sanders sighed.

"And then came the little known event known as the Balcoin massacre," He said in a somber tone. Cassie slowly met Mr. Sanders gaze surprised, terrified, and curious at the same time. The Balcoin massacre? What was that? What had happened? Cassie turned to Diana who was wondering the same thing.

"Believe me, finding this information was anything but easy," He said rubbing his forehead. "I had to dig in very hard in some old archives in French churches and got kicked out more than once. This is an event that the Catholic Church prefers to keep quite even after five centuries. I am not the only one who knows, of course, but it is still far from common knowledge." He sounded tried as he said this and Cassie knew right away this was really not a topic he liked.

Most of the class got the immediate interested by the time he continued talking. "Getting prisoners accused of witchcraft and burn them publicly was starting to become an everyday occurrence," Mr. Sanders started, sounding a little disgusted. "People were going to watch the so call infidels' die while chanting "burn witch, burn!" convinced that their theocratic authorities had everything under control."

He then paused and chuckled darkly. "If only they had known how wrong they were."

The class had morbid interest written in the faces of everyone as they lean in their seats. The Circle found themselves getting sick to their stomach by the information. Even Faye almost wished she hadn't brought this up.

"They put the five people accused and found "guilty" of being witches and prepared the burn the wood at their feet which would eventually consume them and one of them was the Frenchman Francis Balcoin," Mr. Sanders explained. "The other four were screaming and begging at the people in front of them to spare them, while their pleas were laughed at but, according to eye witnesses, Francis had a look on his face that was so twisted and horrible that it would make the Devil himself go back to his fiery home. That naturally put the masses on edge and they asked the executioner to fuel his fire further. The black robed man approached Balcoin with a torch and before the astonishing eyes of everyone present, the fire at his feet suddenly rise up and torched the executioner instead," The teacher said with a dead serious expression.

Gasps and whispers covered the class while Mr. Sanders gave the students a moment to process that. The Circle however, looked very grim because it brought back some bad memories. Cassie remembered when she made that witch hunter burn and Faye and Melissa were remembering being tied and almost lit on fire in the boat. The five now they had a rough idea of what came next.

"The eye witness reports disagree after that so it's hard to reconstruct the event accurately but two things are known for sure," Mr. Sanders went on. "That an uncontrollable, almost alive looking, fire went off and that about thirty people were killed. Between the victims were a few religious priests, some guards that tried to quell the fire, several members of the terrified commoners and, of course, the executioner. Some witnesses' stated that the fire took demonic shapes and chase after the fleeing people. Others claimed that the dead from the nearby graveyard rose and attack the living. Regardless of what really happened, the masses felt as if Francis Balcoin turned the place they were standing into a gateway to the place they were afraid the most: Hell itself," He stated as the class listened with different reasons and levels of interest. "By the end of the day, Balcoin's body was never found, implying his survival, and since then he became a legendary dark figure for both heretics and religious people alike"

Sanders gave Diana and Cassie a look again and the two knew right away why their names weren't on the family tree or at least they thought they knew. Sanders must know about them and he must have left them out on purpose. Diana and Cassie looked down at their desk as the thought cross their minds. If Sanders actually knew who they were and what family they were from why was he here. Did he want to get rid of the Balcoin line for good? It was possible.

The class absorbed that information quietly. Some were fascinated by it, other were horrified by the cruelty of the Inquisition and the Circle looked at each other concerned as hell, which was kind of fitting, considering what they just heard.

Diana slowly raised her hand for the first time in that class. Mr. Sanders looked pleased by that but he didn't give her his usual smirk.

"Yes, Miss Meade?" He asked.

"You said that the ancestors of Francis Balcoin were not born with Dark magic," Diana said slowly. "Do you know what changed that made that happened?" Diana figured if their family wasn't always dark maybe there could be some way for Cassie and her to get rid of the dark magic. They could go back to the ways of her ancestors but Mr. Sanders shook his head.

"I don't know for sure but folkloric tales say that he was once a really good witch, like many others, but when his kind was hunted down and killed he made some sort of evil and ancient ritual that tainted his blood and magic to gain more power so he could protect himself and his wife," Mr. Sanders claimed. "Whether that is true or not I know not, but clearly he got more than he bargained for. I know, though, that his original reasons came out of love; love for his family, and even if his powers turned him into a monster, deep down all he wanted was peace, which is all we can hope for," He said and Cassie could have sworn by his tone of voice that he was trying to reassure Diana.

She nodded and said no more. Mr. Sanders sighed and looked at the class.

"Like I said, all Folkloric tales have moral lessons," He reminded. "Personally, I think this one explains that no one is above corruption given the right circumstances and to beware of love, as it can spur you to do unthinkable things."

Suddenly the school bell rang.

"Well, I hope you find this class interesting and remember to have those essays ready for next week." The Circle made their way out and all gave Faye a look she knew well. She was going to be yelled at soon.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Diana was taking her books out of her locker and was getting ready to go back to Melissa's house. It had been a long day and after everything they had learned in Mr. Sander's class about the Balcoins she needed to think. She needed to be alone and in a quiet place to go over everything she had heard, but she couldn't because she had a Circle meeting. Diana rolled her eyes at all the stress that was in this town. As she started walking away she heard someone call her name.

"Ms. Meade," Diana froze as she knew the voice. It was Mr. Sanders! "Ms. Meade, I need to talk to you." Diana turned around and looked at her teacher.

"Is there something you need, Mr. Sanders?" Diana put on a fake smile wanting more than anything to get away from this teacher.

"Well yes in fact there was. I heard you signed up to be in charge of the upcoming school dance." Diana was confused for a minute and then did remember she had volunteered to be in charge of the dance. She had done it because she figured it would be some type of normal in this wacky town of Chance Harbour. Now she wished she hadn't.

"Yes, I did. Didn't I?" Diana had no idea where she would find the time to organize a dance. Not with all the sibling problems she had going on.

Mr. Sanders gave her a smile. "Well I was wondering if you could use some help." Diana gave him a look not knowing what to say. "Since I am new and all I figured I should get involved with the school and I'm a great at planning. I'm sure the two of us together could plan a great dance. That is if you need the help, of course."

Diana could use the help, but not from him. What the hell was his game? He clearly knew about the Circle. It was so obvious and he clearly knew Diana and Cassie were Balcoins. What did he want? All Diana wanted was out of this conversation now. _Someone please help me, _Diana begged in her head hoping someone would come and say they needed her for something.

Cassie was just heading to the principal's office. Since her car had went into the shop Dawn had been waiting outside to pick her up that morning and Dawn was planning on giving Cassie a ride home, but the Circle had planned to meet at the abandoned house to yell at Faye. Cassie was going to go tell Dawn she didn't need the ride. _Someone please help me,_ Cassie heard and froze.

"Diana?" Cassie called and looked around. She didn't see her sister anywhere.

Cassie started walking again thinking she was just hearing thing. _I need someone to help me. Someone needs to get me out of here now. Cassie_ froze. She had heard Diana's voice that time. She knew she had. _Oh, god, please someone._ That was it, Cassie turned around and went running towards Diana's locker. It was the only place Cassie thought Diana could be. When she got there she saw Diana and Mr. Sanders standing there. They seemed to be talking. _I want out of this conversation now._ Cassie heard Diana beg.

"Diana," Cassie called causing both of them to look at her. "There you are. I've been looking for you everywhere."

"You have?" Diana asked a little confused.

"Yeah, we're supposed to meet everyone and you offered to give me a ride. Remember?" Diana was confused for a moment since she never offered to give Cassie a ride and then she realized what Cassie was doing. She was giving Diana a way out.

"Oh, yeah, thanks. Better get on that." Diana said with a smile. "Well I got to go."

"Sure thing," Mr. Sanders said looking at the two of them. "You will get back to me on whether or not you could use my help. Right?"

"Yeah, sure," Diana said and Cassie and Diana were already running down the hall and away from the teacher. They didn't stop until they got outside. "You don't know what perfect timing that was." Diana smiled at Cassie.

"Well you needed someone to save you and I was more than willing to come to the rescue anytime." Cassie laughed.

"How did you know I needed someone to rescue me?" Diana asked Cassie confused. She had thought Cassie had just saw the two and jumped in, but Cassie made it sound like she went looking for Diana to save her.

Cassie gave Diana a look. "I heard you begging for help. How did you do that anyway?" Cassie asked assuming Diana had purposely done something for Cassie to hear her.

Diana for her part was looking at Cassie like she'd grown two heads. "Do what?" Diana asked. "I didn't do anything."

"You must have cast some type of spell or something. I was nowhere near you and I heard you begging for help as though you were right next to me."

"Cassie, I was begging for someone to help me in my head." Diana told Cassie making Cassie look at her. "I was thinking in my head begging for someone to help me and then you showed up. I didn't cast a spell. I couldn't. Not with Mr. Know-It-All about magic standing right in front of me."

"Could you have done it on accident? I mean we've done accidental magic before." Cassie pointed out, but Diana shook her head.

"Nothing like this. I mean has this ever happen before?" Diana asked.

"No I don't thin..." Cassie stopped talking as she remembered something. Diana knew the look on Cassie's face and waited for Cassie to continue. "This morning I woke up and thought I heard you talking." Diana gave Cassie a look.

"You heard me talking? About what?" Diana asked.

"I don't know something about eggs and bread and school." Cassie tried to remember more. "I was kind of half asleep when this happened and just discarded it when I fully woke up, but now maybe..."

"You think you heard what I was thinking this morning." Diana finished for Cassie who nodded. The two were silent for a minute not knowing what to say. "How is this possible?"

Cassie shook her head. "I don't know."

Dawn walked out of the building not long later. "Cassie there you are. Oh, hello Diana." Dawn said when she noticed Diana was standing next to Cassie. "Am I still giving you a ride home?"

"No," Diana answered before Cassie could. "We're going to go meet the Circle for a meeting. Don't worry I'll take Cassie home."

"Okay, is everything okay?" Dawn asked worried.

"Yeah, just Circle stuff Dawn, I mean Ms. Chamberlain." Cassie said. "Does outside the school count as being in school or not?"

Dawn thought for a minute. "In school," Dawn finally concluded. "Also you two know that if the Circle ever needs any help with anything I am here." The two nodded. "Okay, good." Dawn started walking to her car. "By the way, Diana, it's good to have you back." Dawn got into her car and drove away. The two sisters looked at each other.

"We better get to the abandoned house." Diana said not looking at Cassie and the two got into Diana's car.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Diana paced back and forth in the abandoned house, waiting for the others to arrive. They had to fill Jake in, but also she couldn't wait to get after Faye for the stunt she pulled today in class. As the other Members of the circle started to trickle in, Diana couldn't help but notice Faye and Adam coming in last and together.

"So I think we need to talk about what happened in class today." Diana said, looking directly at Faye.

"I was curious. He had some answers." Faye said, realizing Diana's anger.

"But it could have exposed us." Cassie quickly jumped in

"How was I supposed to know creeper would have your family tree?"

"What's going on?" Jake whispered leaning in towards Melissa.

"Fill you in a minute."

"The point is that it was reckless, Faye."

"I was curious! He seems to know his stuff, what's wrong with asking?"

"So, so, much is wrong with it." Diana sighed, looking around at the rest of the circle that had been mostly quiet.

"Can you guys tell me what's going on?" Jake asked looking from one member of the Circle to the next.

"Faye thought it would be a great idea to ask Mr. Sanders about dark magic and its origins." Diana said, looking to Jake.

"And he gave us a great lesson on Francis Balcoin." Cassie said.

"Wait, what? And he had a family tree?" Jake asked, red flags and alarms going off in his head.

"Luckily the latest generation was left off the tree, but he brought to light some interesting facts." Diana reassured Jake, seeing protective mode activating on his face.

"Which I see as a good thing!" Faye jumped in; Cassie just shot her a glare.

"Like what?"

"Like how our line once was a source of great white magic, and that something happened to Francis to change our line."

"Don't forget that creepy massacre." Faye mumbled

"Massacre?"

"Yeah! Those two have a great something grandpa that totally killed a ton of people with fire demons and zombies."

"Faye, shut up!" Cassie snapped.

"What? It's true! I googled it, though the page accounted the deaths to a careless burning that turned into a city ravishing fire, the town was real, the deaths too." She quipped right back. Diana just shook her head and rubbed her temple.

"What I want to know though, is what exactly turned our line. Why it was suddenly dark magic. A witches intentions can turn dark, the spells they cast, but to become a source of dark magic? That doesn't just happen." Diana wondered aloud.

"Maybe his intentions did become dark, and he began to steal people's powers, and their dark magic took over?" Melissa through in.

"I see that's plausible, but the person would have to be powerful to be much use to Francis, and a person powerful enough would be powerful enough to protect themselves, because of that I don't think he'd have been able to find that much power. It was in the middle of times where witches had to be hidden, meaning it would be harder to find the witch; he'd have to be very careful about how he went about doing things, and then as soon as one is taken out the rest are now hiding from two threats. They would hide better." Adam suggested.

"What if he found a way to hide himself at executions, and steal the magic before they were killed?" Jake asked.

"But that brings Adam's point back up; the people he'd be going after would be powerful enough not to get caught." Cassie reasoned.

"The whole power hungry scenario doesn't explain why the blood line was changed either. It wasn't originally a part of his genes, so why would it be in the bloodline? I'm not sure that's the kind of ritual Sanders was talking about." Faye chimed in.

"I think we have a lot of research to do." Diana mumbled.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Melissa sat behind the wheel of her car, head swirling with thoughts of the day's events and the meeting. Everything was getting so crazy out of control, and she thought it was a bad a few months ago. Her thoughts continue like that for a bit before she came to a stop light. Slowly easing the car to a stop, she noticed Claire and Dylan crossing at the crosswalk. Rolling down her window she stuck her head out.

"What are you two doing?" She called, both their heads snapping up as smiles spread over their faces as they saw her.

"Avoiding the hotel. Lucas is in a mood, and they both like to tease us about going to school." Dylan said walking over to Melissa's car and standing by the driver side window. Melissa quickly checked behind her to make sure she wasn't stopping traffic. She was glad to see no cars behind her.

"I think Lucas is on his man period. He's a bit moodier than normal." Claire said joining her brother.

Melissa smirked at Claire's joke, but her smile grew as she got an idea.

"Do you two want to get in? I have an idea for what to do."

"Sure!" Dylan said excitedly, then quickly added "Shout gun!" And ran around to the other side. Claire rolled her eyes while Melissa shrugged, and Claire climbed into the back taking the middle seat.

"So where to?"

"You'll see." Melissa replied putting her food on the gas and making a turn.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

After the abandoned house, Cassie, Diana, Jake, Faye, and Adam all decided to go to the boathouse to get something to eat. They were all still wondering the same thing. What happened with Francis Balcoin all those years ago that turned his line dark. Diana still had the hope in her head that maybe if they found out she could undo the darkness.

"Adam, I'm going to need you to work later," Ethan called from behind the counter, clearly a bit drunk. Adam nodded.

"Okay, I'll work later," Adam called back to his father.

"I thought he stopped drinking?" Faye asked, looking at Ethan Conant.

"He did. He started again," Adam told the group as he sat down. "I should probably be working now to help keep this place going, but I need a bit of a break. So anything interesting happen with you guys besides the teacher drama?" Adam realized he had not been talking to the Circle lately since he was in his own little world with the skull, but decided he should at least try to seem normal. If he kept acting nervous and sneaky all the time more Circle members then just Faye would be looking into what's going on with him.

"Well there is one thing that happened to us today that's kind of strange," Diana said. With all the yelling at Faye and thinking about the information they had learned in Mr. Sanders class Diana had almost forgotten about her and Cassie's reading minds moment. Almost being the key word in that sentence.

"You think we should tell them?" Cassie asked. She kind of liked the idea of this being a secret between her and Diana.

"Yeah," Diana stated thinking it was obvious. "Before we left school Mr. Sanders was trying to talk to me about the dance and I was thinking in my head begging for someone to save me and suddenly Cassie showed up. Apparently she heard what I was thinking and came to get me." Diana then looked at Cassie.

"It's not the first time it happened," Cassie continued to explain. "This morning I heard Diana voice, but discarded it because I was half asleep when I heard it. Now I think I heard what Diana was thinking this morning."

Jake looked very interesting in the information. "Today was the first day this happened?" He asked and both girls nodded.

"Wait a second..." Faye said remembering something. "The night Diana had her nightmare." She shot Adam a quick look knowing Adam blamed himself for what happened to Diana that night. Adam for his part got nervous when Faye said this and went to the back with the excuse he had to check on his dad. "Anyway like I was saying before Adam went all weird again." Faye made it sound like she was annoyed at Adam, when she was anything but. "The night Diana had her nightmare, Cassie claimed she heard Diana scream."

"I did," Cassie defended herself, not believing they were getting into this again. She knew Faye still thought she was lying. "Diana's screaming woke me up."

"I believe you now," Faye said, surprising Cassie. Cassie had expected a fight on this one. "You heard Diana scream, but neither Melissa or I did. Maybe you didn't actually hear Diana scream with your ears. Maybe you heard it in your mind."

Cassie looked at Faye shocked for a minute and then looked at Diana. "It makes sense. You said you believed I heard you scream." Diana nodded.

"That would make the nightmare the first time this happened. That was a week ago!" Diana pointed out. "What's going on with us? Have we formed some type of mental link or something?"

"I don't know, but maybe you two should experiment with this," Jake stated causing everyone to look at him. "See what you can find out, but not here. Someplace a little less public."

"I like the idea," Cassie said with a smile. She really wanted to know what was going on with the two of them. She was really starting to like it and wanted to know more.

Diana seemed a lot less thrilled with the idea, but admitted it made sense to try and figure out what was going on. "Okay, let's go to Melissa's house and experiment. We'll be back when we're done with an update." Diana got up and went out. Cassie followed saying a quick goodbye.

Jake looked at Faye. "Want to go someplace a little more fun until they get back." Jake suggested. "I mean we should have the time."

"I got plans," Faye said without a second thought. "I'll be back before the dark princess get back." Faye got up and went into the back.

_Was she going to hang out with Adam?_ Jake thought surprised and then looked around. No one from the Circle was here anymore and he had nothing to do and no one where to go. He might as well wait for Diana and Cassie to get back with an update on their link. "Hey can I get a burger or something," Jake called out. He might as well eat as he waited.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye was able to get to the backroom of the boathouse without the rest of the Circle noticing, the last thing she needed was them asking questions about the amount of time she and Adam were spending together. As she stepped into the room and closed the door she noticed that Adam was sat in a chair, his head in his hands. Faye wasn't really sure what she could say to him, she wasn't good at comforting people especially guys, well unless it was Jake but that was a whole other story.

Coming down the steps she started searching through the bottles of alcohol that were stored on the shelves, with all the clinking of bottles she was surprised when she didn't hear Adam ask what she was doing. Finally finding what she wanted she walked over to Adam a bottle in each hand,

"Take it." she said simply holding out one of the bottles to Adam.

Finally looking up Adam gave Faye the look that everyone seemed to be giving her, that disbelieving look. They had know her forever they should know what she was like by now,

"Like that's going to help." he told her and she simply shrugged.

"It will for now." she said shaking the bottle in front of his face.

"I can't drink, I need to help with this place." he said, and Faye couldn't help but roll her eyes,

"Screw this place." she said "It's not your problem, it's your dad's."

"You don't understand." Adam said, standing up,

"So make me." Faye told him putting the bottles down on the small table and sitting in his seat crossing her arms over her chest and watching him as he started pacing. Adam couldn't believe that Faye was asking him to talk about this and he couldn't believe he was considering telling her all his problems. When he had problems Faye would normally be the last person in the Circle he would go to, actually that was a lie, the last person he would go to was Jake but that wasn't the point.

As he stopped pacing he looked over at Faye who was still staring at him arms crossed over her chest.

"My dad is drinking again, a lot." he started "I thought it would have stopped after he went away for a while, but he came back worse." Adam said and pulled a slight face, his dad had come back drunk after being away for weeks. Letting a sigh escape his lips he continued "The boathouse is losing money because we need people to cover my dad while he's drunk or even passed out back here." he said, not realising how worked up he was getting "And I can't work all the time because I want to get through school... well, decent grades, so I can get away from my drunken dad who couldn't care less about me or what was going on in my life." he finished and Faye stood up picking up the bottle again and offering it to Adam who immediately took it and took a sip.

"First of all, your dad is an alcoholic." she said simply "You really shouldn't be surprised he is drinking again." she said getting a disbelieving look from Adam "I'm not defending him." Faye told him quickly as she watched him take another sip from the bottle.

"I'm just saying you should have suspected it." she said "And if you need help here, ask the dark princesses." she suggested "Cassie got chucked from her old job so it's no fun going there anymore to wind her up so make her work here. And Diana could probably do with socialising with normal people again and I'm sure that Melissa would be more than willing to help you out." she added, a teasing tone in her voice and Adam rolled his eyes at her, taking another sip from the bottle.

"So that sorts out the fact he is drinking and you are having staffing issues. Now the school thing I have no idea how to work through, my mom is going crazy because my grades are slipping with all the Circle stuff." she told him "As for him not caring, even if he did listen to what you had to say would he remember it the next day?" she asked and knew the answer when Adam took a large sip of the drink, "The easy solution is to find people who will listen. And now in minutes I have solved all of your problems." she said smugly.

Adam raised his eyebrows slightly before he sat down on the table and took another sip of the drink, Faye also took a seat and watched Adam who had a thoughtful look on his face.

"I don't think I remember the time when our lives were un-complicated." he said the thoughtful look still on his face.

"Oh, I do." Faye told him "When evil princess one wasn't in town, when she was just a surname in Diana's book." she told him "When there were no demons, no deaths, no witch hunters, no evil fathers, no crystals or crystal skull and no evil siblings."

"Those were the days." Adam shouted out, and Faye laughed slightly, pulling the bottle from his hands.

"Are you seriously that much of a light-weight?" she asked, noting not even a quarter of the bottle was gone and Adam was almost gone himself. "No." he told her with a moody expression as he took the bottle back from Faye.

"So on the subject of the skull..." she started but was cut off by Adam.

"Now who is obsessing?" he asked and Faye knew he was talking about Jake and the vial, she simply rolled her eyes and carried on as if he never said anything.

"Why did you bring it back here when it gave you a weird vibe like it was controlling you?" she asked "You could have found a way to get rid of it, thrown it into the ocean, smashed it with a hammer." she suggested "But you brought it back, why?"

"Because it wanted to be back here." Adam told her simply, taking another sip of drink.

"It's not alive, Adam." she repeated for what felt like the hundredth time before she felt her phone buzz in her pocket, pulling out her phone she saw that Melissa was heading to the boathouse.

"Melissa's on her way." she told him, standing up and putting away the bottle on the table before taking the one from Adam's hand and putting that back too "Come on, time to go." she said impatiently and Adam just groaned.

"I can't go out like this." he said and Faye rolled her eyes "I'll make you coffee now get off your ass and get back out there." she told him before shooing him along ahead of her.

Once they got to the main part of the boathouse, Faye quickly made Adam a large and very black coffee. Handing it over to Adam, he took a large sip and pulled a face that made Faye laugh slightly.

"That is disgusting." Adam said, moving to pour the coffee away but Faye stopped him.

"Oh suck it up, you baby." she told him "You're the one who was drinking in the middle of the day." she said turning to head back to the table Jake was still sat at. Adam pulled a face at Faye before he sighed and followed her over to the table taking a sip of the coffee as he sat down and made a face.

"What's wrong with you?" Jake asked referring to Adam's face,

"Your girlfriend makes awful coffee." he said taking another sip and pulled the same face again, Jake looked at Faye with a questioning look and she simply rolled her eyes.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Melissa, give us a hint about what are we going to do?" Dylan playfully whined. Melissa was being very secretive about where she was taking them. She said she wanted this to be a surprise, but Dylan was never really good with surprises.

"Nope. My lips are sealed."

"Dylan calm yo self!" Claire scolded

"Only if you promise never to say 'yo' again." He shot back. It just didn't sound natural for words like 'yo' to come out of his sister's mouth.

"Shoo boy!" she laughed, causing both Dylan and Melissa to tell her "Definitely never say that again!" The three burst into laughter

"So how was your guy's first day of school?" Melissa asked

"It was great! I was afraid of meeting a Mean Girls clique or something. I honestly had no clue what to expect of high school." Claire replied

"And I got a girls number! She wants me to text her... I was too shocked to tell her I don't have a cell phone." Claire shook her head.

"You don't?" Melissa asked a bit shocked.

"Nope. Mom said we had to wait till we started high school. We left before that happened."

"I would have thought she'd give you one when she decided to let you leave." Melissa wondered out loud.

"She didn't have time to." Claire let her know.

"Well, on an unrelated note, we're here!" Melissa sang pulling into a parking lot in front of a trail access to the forest.

"Uh... Melissa, are you trying to murder us and hide the bodies?" Dylan asked, causing Claire to slap his shoulder.

"OW!"

"No, nothing like that, I want to show you something." Melissa said unbuckling and getting out of the car, the twins following her lead. As they headed down the trail Melissa stopped randomly at different plants.

"So that's a Sweet Fennel, There's lemon balm, and over there is Angelica Sinensis, Claire, next time it's that time of month, brew these into a tea. It will help with many symptoms. Oh and there is Pasque flower! Very useful, but very toxic unless you are careful. I'll have to teach you how to use it sometime." Melissa said pointing to many flowers

"Gross." Dylan said in response to the mention of the "Lady Problems" as he liked to call it.

"Anyways let's keep moving." Melissa said continuing down the trail, sometimes pausing to point out other plants and flowers and their uses. Finally they came to a big beautiful tree that was slightly off the trail, but something was off about the tree. Its leaves weren't a healthy shade of green, and there were less than there should be. Its bark also looked dry and brittle.

"This is one of my most favourite trees here in this forest, but it's dying. I've tried a few times to save it, but nothing is working. I was wondering if you two wanted to learn how to help me? I figure if we combined our magic to try, it might just be saveable."

"We could actually do that?" Claire wondered aloud, astonishment and awe evident in her voice.

"Let's do it." Dylan said looking the tree up and down.

"Alright. Follow my lead." Melissa said kneeling at the trees edge and lightly running her fingers over the base of the tree and down its roots, and then back up following the same path over and over again, until her fingertips left a small glowing trail.

"I want you to do as I'm doing, and focus all your energy, and thoughts on making this tree better again. Clear your mind of everything else and will the tree to get better as you run your hands over the tree."

The twins eagerly sat down and did as they were told. It happened slowly at first, so slowly Dylan was afraid it wasn't going to work and they'd all be disappointed, but slowly the glow their hands left behind began to grow and spread until each of their own personal glows combined into one.

"Keep going." Melissa whispered as Dylan almost stopped to admire how beautiful the glow was. As they kept going, it began to spread up the tree and through the branches, and into the leaves, and as it did the Bark began to look healthy again, and the leaves began to look healthy again, and as the glow reached the very tops of the trees, the glow suddenly faded, a big grin spreading on Melissa's face.

"I wanted to show you two what magic is really for. The good it can do, the wonders. When I found my mom's Herbology journal, I found this spell in it. Everyone was so busy, and when Faye and I went out, we'd have fun, but it was also manipulative and borderline illegal. So one day I came out here with my mom's journal. Began to heal plans, and collect some for tinctures and what not. And then I found this tree. I'd sit under it and add to my mom's journal. Making my own notes on how I'd figured out how to simplify her stuff, or make it better. It made me feel like I was actually doing something with her... and then I realized this tree was dying and have been desperately trying to save it since, but my powers alone weren't enough." Claire and Dylan smiled at the bitter-sweet story.

"It's so simple, pure, and good. I want to learn more about it." Claire said putting one hand on the tree and feeling its new found energy.

"It was amazing to be able to do that." Dylan agreed smiling. Melissa felt so good about being able to show them this, what good their magic could do.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Diana opened Melissa's front door and the two walked inside. "You know we could have gone to my house." Cassie told Diana making Diana look at her. "You know there's no chance of a parent walking in there."

"Mr. Glaser won't be home for a while." Diana told Cassie and walked up the stairs without saying another word about it. Cassie rolled her eyes. "You coming?" Diana had walked back down the stairs to look at Cassie.

"How about I stay down here and you go into Melissa's room?" Cassie said. "There should be some distance between us to see if this will work." Cassie sat down on the living room couch as Diana continued up the stairs.

Diana walked into Melissa's bedroom and closed the door behind her. She sat on Melissa's bed and tried to think of what to do. She truthfully had no idea how to do this. Maybe she should just think and try to send the thoughts to Cassie. What to think about though? There were things she had to keep from Cassie, like the fact that Charles Meade had killed Amelia. _Great,_ Diana thought. With her luck Cassie had heard that, but after a minute without Cassie running up to yell she figured she was safe.

Nothing was happening and Diana had to admit she wasn't trying that hard to make Cassie hear her thoughts. It just seemed a little weird to her to be doing this. Maybe she should just go downstairs and tell Cassie she has no idea how to do this. Then she heard a scream. She looked around before she realized she didn't hear it with her ears. It was in her head and she recognized Cassie's scream. She heard Cassie scream once again.

Diana jumped off the bed and ran down the stairs thinking Cassie was in serious trouble. Did the Balcoins come here again or something? Diana was wondering, but when she got downstairs everything seemed fine. She went into the living room and found Cassie was standing up on the couch staring at something frozen with fear. Diana once again heard her scream in her head. Diana looked at where Cassie was looking and saw a wasp on the floor. Diana looked at Cassie again. Cassie was clearly afraid of the thing and actually seemed to be terrified of it. Diana decided to use her magic to kill it.

"It's dead, calm down." Diana told Cassie since she was still hearing Cassie scream in her head. Cassie took a couple of deep breaths and then sat down. Diana could still see the wasp had really scared her sister. Diana almost went to hug Cassie, but decided against it. She just waited for Cassie to calm down.

"Thanks," Cassie told her sister. "I saw it and froze. Didn't even think of using magic on it."

"I'm confused on one thing." Diana said and Cassie looked at her. "You can stand up against witch hunters, demons, evil fathers, evil siblings, and more, but a wasp causes you to panic. How are you afraid of a bug?" Diana was very nearly laughing at Cassie's fear, which made Cassie feel bad. Everyone was afraid of something and Cassie had a good reason for not liking wasp.

"I'm allergic," Cassie defended herself. "If that thing had stung me you would be driving me to the hospital now." That caused Diana to stop laughing. Truthfully she had no idea that Cassie was allergic and felt kind of bad that she laughed. Diana could see being afraid of a wasp if you were allergic to them. The two remained silent for a minute until Cassie asked "How did you know I was in trouble anyway?"

"I heard you scream," Diana explained and sat down next to Cassie.

"I didn't scream. I jumped on top of the couch and froze." Cassie told her sister.

"You screamed in your head. I heard you." Cassie smiled.

"So you finally hear my thoughts." Diana nodded. "Maybe it only happens when we're in danger. I mean look at it. The nightmare, Mr. Sanders, the wasp, we were in danger and the other one heard our thoughts. Sort of a 911 call to get the other for help."

Diana shook her head. "No when you heard me this morning I was making breakfast. Cooking isn't exactly dangerous."

"It can be for me," Cassie said with a laugh remembering times when her mother had tried to teach her to cook. Her mom had eventually decided that she was hopeless and banished her from the kitchen.

"Did you seriously almost cut your finger off making salad?" Diana asked causing Cassie to look at her.

"Yeah, how did you know that?" Cassie asked confused.

"You just said it." Diana told Cassie and then looked at her. "You did say it out loud right?" Cassie shook her head. "You were thinking about it?" Cassie nodded. Diana jumped up and started walking to the door. "I think we should go back to the boathouse and tell everyone else what we found out." Diana walked out the door leaving Cassie there alone. Cassie got up and started to follow her sister.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Claire was led down on the picnic blanket, waiting for Dylan and Melissa to come back. She was staring at the sun through the trees and could feel herself drifting off to sleep.

It had been a nice day, not only because she and her twin had a chance of spending time with Melissa doing something fun, but because she was able to stay away from Lucas and Ryder and their dark magic tricks.

She hated to admit that to herself, but the truth was that their dark magic had been affecting both her and Dylan, she could her mother, they could stay safe from this, because she used to supress their dark power. But now Lucas and Ryder seemed to be bring it up every minute of everyday.

Not to judge her older brothers though. She knew they thought that was the best way to keep them all safe. They all just needed time to get used to each other.

Claire got up and shook her head, smelling her own hair as it touched her face. It was just so confusing and she didn't really feel like thinking about all this now.

A movement near her called her attention. Claire thought she was seeing the sun bright over the grass, but it turned out that there was a bunny, a few steps away from her. And it was pure white and could easily be mistaken for sunlight.

Claire couldn't believe how cute that was. She never had a pet, for some reason, her mother never allowed them in the house. Her experience regarding animals was limited to some rare visits to the zoo.

Claire got on her knees, trying to figure out a way of getting close without scarring it. The bunny was interested in the food, that was obvious, but for some reason it wasn't coming any close.

"Come on!" Claire called in a sweet voice, taking a piece of bread and offering it. "Come on, you're hungry aren't you?"

When she extended her arm the bunny jumped away. Claire felt a little rejected, but kept trying.

"Come on, bunny! Come here, take the bread!"

_Come on, stupid thing!_, the thought crossed her mind before she could stop it and it scared her. _I'm spending too much time with Lucas_, she told herself.

Claire decided to take the bread to the bunny, feeling a little guilty for having said that even in her thoughts. The animal didn't move much, so she put the bread on the grass. It slowly came closer, making her feel really happy. When it came close enough, she decided to take a chance and held it in both hands.

It felt warm, fluffy and his face was so cute!

That didn't last long though, as the little animal started to get nervous and tried to get away, making her worry. Before she could put him back on the ground, though, Claire felt a sharp pain in her hand and her immediate reaction was to drop the small animal. She let the bunny fall, but was still on her knees, though, so it was okay and started running off.

A little shocked, Claire starred at her hand and the cut that was bleeding where the bunny had bit her. And it hurt like hell, too.

Seeing her own blood just made something snap in her mind. She felt blind and daft.

"Claire, are you okay?" Dylan approched his sister with care, he had a feeling something was very wrong. "Claire?

Claire didn't seemed to hear it. She suddenly looked at where the bunny was, for some reason, it was still on the grass, and she got up quickly her eyes furious:

"YOU FILTHY LITTLE THING!" She shouted as Melissa and Dylan grabbed her, stopping her from attacking the rabbit that finally ran off.

"Claire, stop it!" Melissa said, but it seemed kind of useless, as Claire seemed so angry that she couldn't even hear her.

"Just keep talking to her!" Dylan told Melissa. "I can't talk and hold on the same time, I'm not strong enough".

"Get. Off. Of. Me." Claire said glaring at Melissa, dangerously. Dylan was seriously concern now.

Melissa wouldn't give up just yet, whatever was happening to Claire.

"No." She said firmly. Before she moved in front of Claire and put one hand on each side of Claire's face and just told her to calm down, over and over again.

_Please, Claire calm down and prove they are all wrong in thinking that you can't control the dark magic_, Melissa thought desperately.

And then, just as quickly as it started, the anger went away and Claire started coughing and gasping.

"Ouch, my head!" Was the first thing she said.

"What happened with you?" Melissa asked in concern.

Claire looked at Dylan and Melissa and then at the bite on her hand. She felt too embarassed to say anything. How could that happen, and when Melissa was there?

Melissa watched as Claire's eyes watered and wished she could say something, but she didn't know what. When Claire got up and ran away from them though, she felt like anything would have been better than just look at her in silence.

Then, with her heart tight, Melissa thought about the time when Cassie attacked Adam, also as out of herself as Claire had just been. She remembered how she looked at Cassie with disgust. "_What's wrong with you?"_ she had said.

And Melissa felt like she was a monster, much worse than any of them.

"Sorry for that." Dylan had sat on the grass and seemed tired and sad.

"It's okay, really." Melissa set next to him. "What was that?"

"That? Oh, that was the nice side of our family showing itself off." Dylan gave her a laugh without humor. "It's only happened three times, including this one, with Claire. She would be like that for hours and break everything. Really, the kind of scene that would make Lucas proud. And then she cries, as it's such a shock." Dylan was obviously sad, despite his voice keep on his usual playfull ton. "I think she gets scared."

"What about you?" Melissa asked him, He looked at her quickly and then down. "Have you ever had this... family-related magical snap?"

"Yep. I've had my moments too." Dylan smiled a bitter smile and Melissa didn't asked much. She thought how strange it was, such a bitter smile in such a young face. "I don't think we are that nice? At least not a lot better than the rest of our family members." He took a deep breath. "Thank's for trying though."

Melissa just placed her hand over his and smiled. "You guys are nice. And I don't know your entire family, but Cassie and Diana are also nice. Lucas and Ryder aren't that nice." She added with a thoughtful face that made Dylan laugh. "But so far, the odds are good. Four nice, two not so much."

Dylan seemed more happy now. Melissa let his hand go and got up.

"I'll look for her."

...

Claire was sat under an old and ugly tree, trying to keep her face dry but the tears wouldn't stop falling.

God, she was so embarassed. She had just met Melissa and she had been so kind... What would she think of her now? And she had probably screwed up Dylan's chances of being friends with her. Oh, and that poor bunny! Claire cried more when she thought of what she could have done if they hadn't shown up to stop her.

Suddenly, she was very grateful to her mother for not letting her to have any pets.

She hated when she snapped so much... Why would she lose control like that? Maybe she was just weak... She wished she could be more like Dylan, that always kept it all under control. Or more like Ryder, that was basically the same. Lucas wasn't that good in the control departament, but even he could managed his dark side well enough.

Claire had tried to contact Melissa and Dylan and get at least a clue of how they were feeling, about her and each other, but her phsyic thing was messed up. Her head was still heavy and her hands were shaking.

_And now I'm lost. Applause for you, Claire, you are getting great at being the stupid one._

"Claire?" Melissa showed up from behind the tree and Claire stopped herself from screaming. "Are you okay?"

Claire wiped her face once more, feeling the skin under her eyes burn. But she couldn't even answer. Looking at Melissa was hard.

"This is a creepy tree you chose." Melissa pointed out, but sat next to her anyway. "Looks like the one in Snow White."

They stayed in silence. Claire couldn't believe Melissa was still there.

"Sorry." She said in a whisper. "I didn't want to freak you out, this was suppose to be a fun day and I just ruined all."

"Nothing is ruined! We are worried about you and how you are feeling, that's all." Melissa said.

"I have a headache." Claire said in a empty voice. "I'm sorry that you had to see this, Melissa. I'll totally understand if you don't want to be my friend anymore..."

"I'm still here, right?" Melissa said cutting her off.

"Maybe this is wrong, I thought we could all be together, us and your circle, but maybe this dark magic thing is too much for you guys. It's not fair that you have to deal with this. We should be with our own people."

_That's a dangerous way to think_, Melissa though. If Claire decided to go the same way as her older brothers, it would be like giving up or giving in to the dark magic. And Melissa truly believed she didn't have to. And she didn't believe it because she was a saint, as Claire liked to believe, but because she had seen proof that living with the Balcoin legacy and still being an amazing person was possible.

She had to help them see they could be good like Cassie and Diana were.

"You know, you remind me a lot of Cassie when she arrived when she found out she had dark magic."

Claire looked at her, interested. She thought of Cassie was very interesting, as she was able to keep herself together and find good friends even though she was a Balcoin.

"She was scared, and she couldn't always keep thing under control either." Melissa thought of the times Cassie almost killed someone but decided it was best not to get into the details.

"Lucky she had you guys." Claire pointed out.

"Oh, no, she didn't." Melissa said and Claire looked at her in surprise. "Not all of us supported her as we should have. You see, some of us were as scared as she was. I was one of those." She felt like she had to tell someone, so she could be even with her friend.

"You?"

"Yeah. I almost believed she didn't couldn't be saved. But I was wrong. Both Cassie and Diana are great people and they are trying to figure out how to deal with this dark magic that you all have. Sometimes, they can't, but they are trying hard." She concluded.

Claire looked down, not sure of what to say. It was hard to believe that Melissa hadn't been there for a friend,But she knew Melissa felt bad about it and she wasn't going to be that person with Claire and Dylan. That thought made her feel better about her own possiblities.

Melissa, seeing that Claire seemed a little more calm, kept going.

"What I'm saying is... You, Cassie, Diana and Dylan had this power with you, and all of you must find a balance between this and who you are. Who you are for real." Melissa took a deep breath. "I have done some things I regret myself. I was weak, I wasn't capable of protecting the people I love and I was mean to a close friend. But I won't allow myself to be like that again."

Claire listened to Melissa's confessions, also knowing she was trying to make up with herself. That made her smile.

"Cassie hates us." Claire said in a voice that lacked enthusiasm.

"She doesn't hate you, she is just... scared. She hasn't had the best family history. And now she has to learn how to deal with herself." Melissa was happy she could make that clear. "When she comes to know you guys, she will like you."

"You think?" Claire asked not really interested, as she was playinging a little of grass from the floor, just to keep the conversation going.

"Believe me, she is not a mean type of person". Melissa smiled and got up. Offering her hand to Claire, who took it and both started to walk back to where Dylan was.

"Now, that Jake person. He does hate us." Claire pointed out, her voice more normal now as she was feeling more confident.

"Oh, he..." Melissa stopped. "Ok, maybe he hates you, but you don't really have to worry about him. He's not really a people person."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie and Diana walked into the boathouse and saw Jake, Faye, and Adam, who was drinking a very large very black coffee, sitting at a table. Diana ran over right away and took a seat next to Faye making Cassie have to sit across from her next to Jake. "So can you two read minds?" Faye asked with a laugh.

"It's only with each other," Cassie said and then explained what happened at Melissa's house.

Faye was laughing. "The big bad witch is afraid of wasp." Cassie gave Faye a look. "Oh, come on you have to know I would comment about that."

"I'm allergic," Cassie once again said kind of upset she had to explain this again. "Seriously, I got stung when I was a kid and my whole arm blew up. My mom had to rush me to the hospital." That piece of information even took the fun out of the fear for Faye. Faye liked to make fun of and give Cassie a hard time sometimes, but not even she had to heart to make fun of an allergy.

Faye looked around. "Anyway this is creepy. What if the others can get into your head too?"

"I don't think so," Jake commented. "If they knew they could get in their minds they would have by now. I think this is something special that formed between Cassie and Diana." Melissa walked in at that time and heard Jake's comment.

"What formed with Cassie and Diana?" Everyone jumped and turned to look at her. None of them had seen or heard Melissa come in. "What did I miss?"

"Diana and I seem to have formed some type of mental link or something with each other." Cassie said and then explained exactly what the two had found out that day.

Melissa smiled and noticed Cassie also had a small smile on her face. "That's great. It's amazing you have this special connection with each other." Melissa saw Diana's face and saw she didn't look to happy. "I mean it's not like the connection is hurting anyone."

"It seems to be harmless." Jake answered. "So the two can hear each other thoughts. There doesn't seem to be much else to it."

"Yeah, besides it might save you guys on cell phone minutes. Instead of always having to call each other for Circle meetings all you have to do is think." Adam joked and then saw the look Diana gave him. "I have to get back to work." Adam decided it might not be the greatest idea to get involved in this drama and walked away.

"Diana, are you okay?" Melissa asked.

"No, I'm not." Diana stated. "You all seem to think this is the greatest thing in the world to happen, but I don't. This connection we have isn't great. It's creepy and it will probably connect me more to my dark magic." Cassie was looking at Diana not believing the words coming out of her mouth. Cassie liked the connection she had with Diana. "Maybe there is a way we can get rid of it."

Diana didn't seem to notice the tears coming to Cassie's eyes, but Jake and Melissa did. "Cassie..." Jake started, but was stop when Cassie started to talk.

"Is this really the worst thing that could happen to you?" Diana stared at Cassie shocked. "Because on a scale of bad things that could happen this doesn't even hit it. In fact I like this connection. It means you can never leave me again." Diana bites her lip and chose not to comment and Cassie saw it. "That's it isn't it. The connection means you can never truly leave me again and that's why you hate it. You just want to leave again." The tears were going down Cassie's cheek and she couldn't take it anymore.

Cassie started to walk away, but stopped. "You know..." Cassie said turning around looking at Diana. "Everyone has always left me my whole life. My best friends when I was a kid left me because I wasn't cool enough. My first boyfriend before I moved here only wanted to take my virginity and then dump me. I always wanted a sister who would always be there for me. Now I have one and all she wants to do is leave me." Cassie ran out of the boathouse when she was done because she couldn't take it anymore.

"Go after her," Melissa told Diana, but Diana just sat there. It was clear she was making no move to go after Cassie and wasn't going to. "I never knew you were this mean."

"I can't go after her. My dark magic..."

"I'm sick of that excuse. If you're not going to go after her I am." Melissa got up and left the boathouse to go find Cassie.

Jake stood up too and looked at Diana. "Maybe you shouldn't have come back." Jake followed Melissa out leaving Diana alone with Faye.

"They just don't understand," Diana said looking at Faye. She hadn't expected Faye to have any emotion or option on the topic, but looking at Faye's face confused Diana. Faye seemed angry with her for some reason.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie stormed out in floods of tears.

"What the hell?" demanded Faye, standing up and shouting at Diana.

"What? It would be safer for us all if we didn't have these links." Diana argued.

"Yeah but you don't need to let Cassie know, she already thinks you don't want her as your sister" Faye told her frustrated. She started pacing, wondering if she should go outside and see if Cassie was alright.

"What? Of course I want her as my sister. Why do you care so much anyway? I thought you hated Cassie!" Diana shouted, trying to make Faye feel bad.

"Yeah well she's been through a lot lately, you should have seen her when you left, and she was a wreck. She doesn't deserve this; she's lost her mum and grandmother recently. She's vulnerable and you're just making it worse." Faye told Diana starting to calm down.

"It's not my fault, I didn't know she was going to hear my thoughts, I just was wondering because it's not very good if Lucas and Ryder can hear our thoughts." Diana reasoned.

"I don't care about that, right now I care about Cassie who's crying her eyes out because she thinks you don't want to be linked to her, as sisters. You need to back off and stop upsetting her. I get it you're not in a good place right now, but neither is Cassie. She's been to hell and back and she's coping better then you, so you need to stop blaming her for everything, it's not her fault. For god's sake Diana you used to be so considerate of other people's feelings, Cassie's your sister! You're treating her like crap and she doesn't deserve it." Faye told Diana angrily.

"Listen Faye, I know Cassie's upset and everything right now, I don't mean to upset her. It's just complicated." Diana told her quietly feeling upset by Faye's harsh words.

"Complicated? Complicated? She's your sister, you're both witches of course it's going to be complicated. All of our lives are complicated but for god's sake you just need to sort it out. It doesn't get in the way of our friendships does it? Then it shouldn't come between you and Cassie either, you need to let her calm down, then you need to apologize and do everything you can to make her know how sorry you are and how you're never going to do it again. You better hope she forgives you because if I was her I wouldn't."

"Okay I'll apologize of course I will, I'm her sister. I do care about her." Diana told Faye trying to ignore the death glare Faye was giving her.

"You better! Now I'm going to check on Cassie, I want to make sure she's okay after what you did." Faye muttered before turning round grabbing her bag and storming out the boathouse, slamming the door as she went.

Diana sat on her own, thinking over all the things Faye had just told her. She was right, of course she was. Diana sat think about how she could make it up to Cassie and prove how much she cared about her, as a friend and as her sister.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Hey." Melissa whispered rounding the corner and sitting down next to a sobbing Cassie. Jake walked along behind Melissa looking extremely angry; he sat down the other side of Cassie.

"Come here." Melissa said, pulling Cassie into her side and letting her cry. Cassie's sobs came out strangled; Melissa put her arms around Cassie's shaking form. Jake sat staring out across the harbour, not knowing what to do.

"Cassie, it's ok, she didn't mean it." Jake says turning to Cassie and Melissa.

"Yes she did!" Cassie whined, starting to cry even more.

"Shhh, shhh," Melissa whispered. comforting Cassie. "You know she loves you, she didn't mean it."

"I bet she doesn't, why would she?" Cassie muttered, crying.

"Cassie." Jake said seriously turning round and staring at her, "Why wouldn't she love you? You're amazing, strong, and beautiful. Diana is lucky to have you as a sister, she just doesn't realise how lucky yet, but of course she loves you."

"Really?" Cassie asked.

"Of course," Melissa urged reassuring her. Jake nodded agreeing. The three of them sat together staring out across the harbour, huddled together. A minute later Faye came flying round the corner scowling, she stopped when she saw Melissa, Jake and Cassie. Taking a deep breath she came and sat down with them.

"Cassie, you okay?" Faye asked concerned.

"Yeah I think so, I'm getting there." Cassie admitted taking Faye's hand and offering her a tiny smile.

"Come here," Faye said leaning over and giving Cassie a big hug. "You'll be okay." she whispered in Cassie's ear, giving her a big squeeze.

"Diana may not think so right now, but you are an amazing person Cassie. One of the best people I know and when Diana wakes up and realises that she'll be so sorry. I don't know how you do it Cassie. I mean you've got such a small head but you manage to be so smart." Faye said cheekily, trying to lift the mood.

"Thank you." Cassie said shocked by Faye's kind words.

"Come on Cassie let's go back inside, into the warm. I'm sure Diana wants to apologize to you." Melissa told Cassie starting to get up.

"Oh if she knows what's good for her, she will." Faye muttered angrily to herself.

"Okay." Cassie answered unsure getting up behind Melissa she started to following before turning round to Faye and Jake. "You coming?" she asked looking for back-up.

"Umm, no, think I'm gonna head home, I've got some stuff to do." Jake said.

"Yeah me too, I'm gonna go with Jake." Faye said.

The two of them got up and gave Cassie a big hugs before turning round and heading off to Jake's car. Melissa led Cassie back inside the Boathouse.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Diana watched as Melissa ran outside to comfort Cassie, wishing she had the guts to do the same. She didn't want to face Cassie, into after what she'd said. Yes, it'd been harsh, but she felt like sometimes there would never be any escape for her, ever.

Diana didn't know what else to do, so she sat down in a booth far away from the front door, resting her head in her hands. She could imagine being at college, and still having the Circle call her about all their magic-related problems. She'd never be able to escape. Plus, with Cassie in her head there was no way that she could ever keep anything private. It was like thinking about her dad earlier—

Diana cursed inwardly, trying to sweep the thought from her mind. There were so many things she didn't want Cassie to know! There were important things, like her dad, and the silly stuff, like if she was with a guy and Cassie accidentally heard something. The idea had her too paranoid. She desperately hoped Cassie couldn't hear her at the moment, since everything she was thinking could only make it worse.

"This seat taken?" Someone said, next to her table. Diana barely raised her head, just shaking it. "You mind if I sit for a moment?"

Diana shook her head again. "Yeah, yeah, that's fine."

The stranger, a girl by the sound of her voice, laughed. "You look awful."

"Thank you."

"No, really, you look like you've been hit by a bus." The stranger said. "I heard some of what you were talking about, and it sounded bad."

Diana shrugged. "I guess it is." She paused a moment, looking up. She hadn't taken a good look at the stranger yet. As far as she could tell the girl was in her twenties, with dyed blond hair and a bit of a lisp. Still, something about the way the girl spoke was bothering her. "Your accent, it reminds me of my boyfriend…"

"He from London?" the girl asked.

"Um, no, he's from Australia." Diana said. "Sorry, I always confuse those two accents, British and Australian."

"It's okay." The girl said. "So can I safely assume that your boyfriend isn't around right now?"

"No." Diana felt herself longing for Grant more than she ever had since she'd been back. "I wish he was here, he could help me clean up the enormous mess I've gotten myself into."

The girl thought about what Diana said for a minute. "Is he good to you?"

"He didn't leave me because of a fight or anything, if that's what you mean. He's older than me and he has a job." Diana said.

"He had to go back to his job and leave you behind?"

It sounded even more dreary coming from someone else's mouth. "Yeah."

"What about your sister?" asked the girl.

Diana wondered just how much this girl had heard. "Cassie? We've just been having some problems."

"Problems? Because it looked a lot worse than that." Diana lowered her eyes. "From what I saw you've been awful to her for a while, and she can't take much more of it. She doesn't have any friends, why would you push her away too?"

"There are reason, specific reason why I can't he around her." Diana defended herself. "You wouldn't understand."

"What, witchery and mind links?"

Diana gasped. "Umm... what? That's ridiculous, what are you talking about?"

"Look, I've seen a lot more than magic. There's so much more out there than magic…" the girl seemed caught up in a daydream for a minute. "I know what's going on. You both have dark magic. Isn't that what you said?" Diana nodded. "So what? Doesn't make you evil. It's like if someone owns a gun. Just because they have one doesn't mean they kill people."

"That's completely different." said Diana. "I can't control my magic and being around someone else with the same kind of magic is inflammatory."

The girl leaned across the table, staring so intensely at Diana that Diana had to look away. "You're just as afraid of that dark magic when you're on your own. What, is Cassie freer about using her magic? Is it because she had it first and you've seen what it can do, so now you think being around her will force you to do what she did?"

Diana was really starting to wonder how this girl had gotten so much information on them. "I don't know! I just hate the idea that deep down I'm a monster. I've always tried to be so kind to everyone, and it turns out that I was wrong; I'm not a good person."

"No, you're not." The girl leaned back into her seat.

"I thought you just said that having dark magic didn't make me evil." Diana could feel a headache coming on. "So am I or not?"

The girl waited for a few agonizing minutes, until Diana was considering getting up and walking away. Finally she spoke. "I didn't say you were evil, I said you weren't a good person. I just saw you crush that poor girl's heart and then watched as you refused to go after her. Don't you give me any 'it's the dark magic' excuses, either. You let yourself become that person. I don't think dark magic had anything to do with you pushing Cassie away."

"Why do you care?" Diana burst out, frustrated. "It's my life, not yours!"

"You love her, right?"

"What?"

The girl sighed. "You love your sister. She's obviously very special."

"Well… yeah." Diana said. She laughed. "We were best friends when she moved here, before I found out I was her sister. She stayed at my house once, for a couple of days. Sometimes she couldn't sleep at night, and she'd ask me if I was awake, even though I was always sleeping. Then when I was awake she'd start apologizing for waking me up, and then suggest we get food or something to drink. Sometimes we'd talk all night… and then when she got dark magic I tried to help her. I knew that she was still good inside."

"See?" the girl said, smiling. "That only changed when you found out that you were like her. Honestly, I think you're upset because one of your parents cheated on the other and had you because of that. I think it's because your life is unstable. There are probably a hundred reasons why you're upset, but none of it is her fault. She didn't force your parents to cheat, she hasn't tried to ruin your life."

Diana groaned. "I know, I know… I guess you're right."

"I am. So are your friends, especially the one that told you to go after her."

"But why do you care? You don't even know me… you just happen to know about magic, which is a little suspicious."

The girl laughed. "Yeah, I guess it is. I care because I know someone like your sister. Wherever the two of us go, trouble follows. 'Course, it'll be a sorry day when I start blaming him for all the bad things that have happened to me. As it is, I miss him a lot. He's been gone a while."

"Did he leave you like Grant had to leave me?" Diana asked. She wondered why she even cared, why she hadn't run the minute she heard that this girl knew about dark magic. Still, she wanted to know.

She shook her head. "He… we got lost, separated. I've been looking for him for years."

"Is it worth it?"

She smiled, a real, genuine smile that lit up her entire face. "Yeah. I figure I'll be chasing him until the end of all time." She laughed, like it was an inside joke. "Just… try to fix things with your sister."

Diana nodded, watching as the girl left. She had to go apologize to Cassie, and beg for her forgiveness. Just because she had dark magic didn't mean she had to be defined by that. She remembered that night outside the hotel when she'd gotten a message from Cassie for the first time in months. She had been so happy to hear Cassie's voice… and she also remembered that it was then she'd told herself she was defined by a lot more than dark magic. She still could remember the list she'd made: She was an orphan. She had been broken countless times. She was often called on for help and got nothing in return. Despite this she kept getting up every time they kicked her and brought her down. She was a mosaic, a myriad of glass, sunlight flashing over the sorrow, joy, hope, pain loss, fear, and love.

Diana finally decided that she wouldn't let the dark magic control her. She would be kind, loving, and gentle, like she'd always tried to be. That would start with her ignoring her pride, going to find Cassie, and comforting her. She was about to head out when she heard the Boathouse door open and saw Cassie and Melissa enter. She gulped, nervous. It was time to make a change.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie glanced around the restaurant, hastily trying to wipe the rest of the tears off her face. "Look, maybe we shouldn't do this—"

Melissa motioned to Diana, who had just gotten up from her booth. "She's right over there, Cassie. Come on, you should at least talk to her."

Cassie tried to fight the urge to run home, where she could curl up on the couch and cry. Yes, being alone was awful, but it would be better than nothing. It would be better than listening to another excuse from Diana.

Diana approached them slowly, like Cassie would actually bolt at any second. When she was close enough she tried to think of something to say, realizing this was the only part she hadn't thought through.

"Diana..." Cassie trailed off. She watched her sister closely. Diana looked... shaken.

Diana held up a hand in defense. "Please, I know you're angry and that you don't want to talk to me, but I have to try to say something." She took a deep breath. "All my life I've wanted a little sister. I used to beg my dad to get married, so I could have other siblings. He didn't, obviously."

Diana stopped when she saw Melissa shake her head behind Cassie. It was a signal for her to hurry up. "Um... yeah. What's I'm trying to say is that I'm really, really, really sorry, Cassie. I never meant to push you away. I know every time I did I said it was because of the dark magic but that was just a stupid excuse. I just wanted to blame someone else for what I was, and for what I thought I would become; a monster. I was wrong, though. Pushing you away, keeping you at arm's length when you've suffered so much and so long... that was wrong. I am a monster and I never really noticed before, just blamed you."

"I'm not even sure how to ask this," Diana continued, crying. "I-I just wanted you to know why i did what I did, and that I'm sorry about it. I would do anything to undo it all and come back all over again, to start again. I wish I had never even left."

"That's not asking me something." Cassie gasped, fresh tears streaming over the dampness from the old ones. "That's not a question."

Diana nodded. She felt her chest tightening as more sobs wracked her body. "I k-know. Please, just... please forgive me. Please, Cassie, please. I just want to be your friend again. I want to be your sister, please."

Cassie didn't wait a second before she flung herself in Diana's arms and started sobbing too. "Of course! I love you, you've always been my friend."

"I love you too." Diana choked out, gripping Cassie tightly. She saw Melissa smile at them from behind. "And you know what else? I'm moving back in with you, because we're never going to be apart again."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Nicholas Sanders watched the three friends leave the Boathouse from the booth on the far side as his glowing green eyes turned back to brown. He put his round pendant made of jade with the engraving of a bear in the middle back in his bag and stared thoughtfully at nothing in particular.

_So, the Balcoin sisters were having trust issues for a long time now,_ He thought. _Well, good thing I helped then, as we will need each other in the future. Whatever nature is warning me about, will happen around the Chance Harbor Circle and we need to be prepared when all hell breaks loose._

Nicholas then started to laugh and said out loud to himself: "Australian and British accents. How did I mix the two of them up?"


	7. Alliance

**Plotline writers – Forcystus5, xleamalfoyx, Coralinas, thefallenloveoflife,**

**Writers – Forcystus5, CharmedMilliE, witch-witha-B, TtylerMaria**

**Editors – flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B**

**Graphic Designers – xleamalfoyx, Charlene F.**

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**Tumblr Account – witch-witha-B,**

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**Thank you so much for all the supportive reviews so far, we really appreciate how much you're all enjoying season 2! Please, send more as well as asking questions on tumblr or tweeting us. **

**Disclaimer: We don't own The Secret Circle, the "Tick Tock" rhyme from Doctor Who, or "Rubik's Cube" by Athlete.**

Episode 7 – "Alliance"

Cassie rolled over and put the blanket up over her head to block out the sun that was coming in through the window. Once again she did not want to get out of bed._ It feels so good to be back here._ Cassie heard and decided to ignore it to try and get back to sleep. _At Melissa's house I always felt like a guest, but here I feel at home._

_I'm glad you feel that way, but can you not think so loud in the morning_. Cassie thought back knowing there was no way she was getting back to sleep now.

_Cassie, I didn't realize you were up._ Diana thought to her sister._ I'm downstairs. I'm going to start making breakfast. You like eggs right?_

_They're okay._ Cassie didn't make any move to get out of bed though.

_Cassie you have to get up and get ready for school._ Diana thought to her sister and Cassie moaned. _Why do you like sleeping in all the time?_

_Is it really sleeping in if you didn't get to sleep until four in the morning?_ Cassie asked as she got out of the bed and went looking for something to wear. Diana for her part was shocked at the information.

_Why didn't you get any sleep last night?_ Diana asked.

_I have been having problems sleeping lately. There are nights when I don't get any sleep at all._ Cassie finally found what she wanted to wear and headed to the bathroom.

_Why didn't you come to me if you were having problems sleeping? I could have helped._

_It was your first night back here. I didn't want to bother you._ Cassie turned on the water for the shower.

_Well next time bother me. I want to be able to help you if I can._ Diana was being truthful. After being so horrible to Cassie for so long Diana wanted to make up for it. If that meant staying up with Cassie and helping her get to sleep so be it.

_Okay,_ Cassie thought as she got into the shower. _You realized we just had a whole conversation in our heads right?_ Cassie asked finally realizing the two had been using the link to talk to each other without even thinking about it.

Diana from downstairs had heard Cassie and she too had just realized they had just had an entire conversation in their heads. _Your right. You know now that we got the hang of this it's pretty easy._ Diana put the bread down to toast and went looking into the refrigerator. She saw the left over Dawn gives to Cassie and then found the eggs. Diana believed they were the same eggs she had used last week to make the pancakes and was proven right when she opened them to find only four left. _Okay, we need to go food shopping. You might not be able to cook, but I can and I enjoy it. We're going to be eating more than Ms. Chamberlain's leftovers when you're not at her house for dinner._

_What?_ Cassie asked confused since she hadn't expected to hear Diana again. _Okay, sure, whatever._ Cassie agreed. _You know I'm almost done with my shower, I'll be down in a few. Can we not think to each other until I'm done because that's kind of weird while I'm in the shower._

_Okay,_ Diana agreed taking out the eggs planning on cooking the last four for breakfast. Two for her and two for Cassie. _Just one question. How do you like your eggs?_

_Scrambled__,_ Cassie answered and Diana went to cooking.

As Diana cooked she started to think. She was starting to like the link herself, but there were things she had to keep from Cassie like her dad killing... "I got to stop thinking about that. What if she heard?" Diana said out loud. Since they had discovered the link the two have been hearing random thoughts from each other and Diana decided to check to see if Cassie heard. _Hey Cassie, did you hear what I was just thinking about?_

_No,_ Cassie answered._ Why? Did you want me to?_

_No, in fact I didn't want you to. I was thinking there were things we both needed to keep privet. Maybe there is a way for us to block the others out of certain thoughts._ Diana was actually excited about this. _You try. Think about something you don't want me to know._

Cassie had just gotten out of the shower and was finishing getting changed. Something she didn't want Diana to know? Cassie thought about it and knew there was one thing she didn't want anyone, even Diana, to know about. That was the fact that the elixir didn't work on her and she was still in love with Adam. Cassie paused as she thought about it. She had gotten passed her feelings for Adam by pretending they didn't exist and not thinking about it because it hurt too much to think about it. _Did you hear that?_

_Not one thing. We have some privacy from each other. No offense or anything, but having you in every thought would be a little weird._

_That's okay. I agree. I'm done with my shower. Coming down now._

_Good, because your eggs and toast are done._ Cassie smiled. Before Diana came here breakfast was usually a reheated bagel or a couple of doughnuts. _I heard that one. Doughnuts for breakfast? I mean once in a while is fine, but how many times did you have that._ Cassie tried not to answer as she walked into the kitchen and saw Diana. "You are so lucky I moved in here," Diana said out loud when she saw her sister.

_Yes I am,_ Cassie thought not really meaning to think it to Diana, but she did anyway. Diana smiled as she finished her eggs and the two sat down to eat.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye was up and making coffee when Jake walked downstairs. As usual, she'd stayed overnight. "Hey," he greeted her, gently kissing her head as he walked by.

"Hi." Faye said unenthusiastically. She had a headache, and wanted nothing more than to just get done with school. After two days off it was hard actually having to go.

As he started rummaging through the cabinets for food, Jake asked, "So, where have you been the last few days?"

"What do you mean?"

He sighed. "You were hurt and avoiding me, and then you ran off somewhere with Adam. _Then_ you hung out with him while you were hurt."

"We're just friends." Faye mumbled. She occupied her hand with pouring a cup of coffee.

"It's funny, but I don't recall you ever liking him before. When I was here all you talked about was his overuse of guyliner and how you thought he was too harsh with me when I stole from the Boathouse."

"It's different now." Faye insisted. "Look, just drop it, okay?"

"Why do you spend so much time with him?" Jake persisted. He turned Faye by the shoulders so she was facing him. "I know there's something going on with the two of you. I mean, you went off to the beach with him injured and came back completely well? I think that's more than a coincidence."

"It's nothing, Jake." Faye repeated angrily. She could feel her stomach knotting.

"Then why won't you spend as much time with me as you do with him?"

It stung to hear him say that. Faye snapped, "Maybe because he isn't so fixated on who I spend my time with!"

"Fine, then why don't you go over to his house and make coffee there?" Jake said, his voice rising.

"I think I'll go home instead." Faye said. "Because, thanks to you getting me into your bed almost every night, I haven't seen my mom in a while. Normally I like things that way, but I do occasionally give a damn, unlike you!"

Before he could stop her she'd grabbed her things and stormed out.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"No one's even here." Cassie complained as she stood by Diana's locker, waiting for her to retrieve books. "Why are we?"

"I guess I just left the house early by accident." Diana said. "Plus I like being able to have time to organize my locker without people rushing past."

Cassie stuck out a tongue at her. "You're such a try-hard. And a goody-two-shoes. And a little bit of a kiss-ass."

Diana was about to reciprocate when she spotted Mr. Sanders behind Cassie, all the way at the end of the hallway. He looked up at them, forcing Diana to go digging through her locker so he wouldn't see her staring at him.

_Cassie, Mr. Sanders is behind you._ When Cassie started nervously, she added, _Way, way behind you. He's at the other end of the hallway._

_What should we do? _

_I suggest that we walk away and pretend we didn't see him. After all, he was trying to get me to help with some dance or something, and I really don't have time for that._

Cassie nodded, making sure not to turn around. "So, Diana, should we head off to class early?"

"I thought you were the one complaining about that." Diana said. "Being early, that is. How about we go to the cafe and see if they have any coffee?"

"Sounds good to me." agreed Cassie. Diana slowly shut her locker and made sure not to turn her head towards Mr. Sanders. She could see from the corner of her eye that he was watching them, but as they left he didn't make a move to follow. Once they were out of distance she said, "Wow, this link is really convenient."

"Yeah, for avoiding people like him." Cassie said. "And maybe helping me with questions in class…?"

"Maybe." Said Diana. "I wish we could have a temporary link with the Circle, so we could stop Faye from asking questions that make Mr. Sanders suspicious."

"You want to research it later?" Cassie asked. She was enjoying Diana's friendship, and wanted to spend time with her to make up for what they missed.

"Sure, why not?"

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye opened the door to her house quietly trying to sneak in. She just wanted to get her things for school and get out without her mom seeing her. There was probably no chance of that anyway. Her mom should already be at school. That theory was proven incorrect since Dawn Chamberlain was waiting for Faye by the steps.

"Shouldn't you be at school?" Faye asked her mom who gave her a look.

"We need to talk," Dawn told Faye.

"I don't want to," Faye said as she heading for her bedroom, but Dawn took hold of her arm.

"Then you will listen while I talk," Dawn told Faye who realized she didn't have a choice. "I don't want you sneaking in and out of this house anymore. You are never around. It almost like you don't live here. I want you to come home more often."

"Is that it?" Faye asked knowing she wouldn't listen to it anyway. She would do whatever she wanted.

"Where have you been?" Faye didn't say anything. "Why did you skip the first two days of school?" Faye once again choose not to comment. "You know how embarrassing that is to come back and find my own daughter skipped? Also, your teachers have been coming to me a lot. Your grades are slipping. I know you've never been great at school, but you've always done better than this. What's going on with you lately?"

Faye pushed Dawn away from her arm and walked up the stairs. A few minutes later Faye came down in different clothes carrying her school stuff. "Faye, we're not done talking." Dawn told her daughter.

"I'm done talking. I have to get to school. You do too, actually." Faye headed for the door.

"You know Cassie is a lot more well behaved," Faye heard Dawn mumble as she was just about to leave and go outside. Faye knew she shouldn't comment. She should just walk out of the house and leave pretending she didn't hear it, but Faye couldn't. Everyone in this town seemed to love Cassie and Faye was getting sick of it. First Adam, then Jake, and now her own mother.

"Why don't you just adopt her already," Faye yelled at her mom and ran out before Dawn could say anything. In fact Dawn wasn't too sure what to say. She hadn't really meant for Faye to hear that and it was stupid to say it out loud. Oh well, Dawn thought. She would talk to Faye about things later. Right now she did have to get to school.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Adam was shoving his notebooks and binders into his backpack, having waited last minute to pack up for school. He was always so busy with the Boathouse that he hardly ever got to sleep before ten or eleven, and that left almost no time for homework. It was a miracle that he was even passing in school.

Sighing, he left it on a stool by the bar and headed to the back. He was going to tell his dad he was leaving, but when he peering in the room he saw Ethan passed out on the couch. "Dad?"

No response.

"Dad?" he tried again, louder. His dad stirred. "I'm leaving for school, you have to go out there and start running the Boathouse now."

"What?" his dad was clearly hung over. He moaned, rubbing his eyes as he slowly sat up. "What time is it?"

"Nearly time for school." Adam said shortly. He knew he should have expected this. "I have to leave, and you have to take care of the Boathouse."

It was painfully obvious that Ethan wasn't in good enough shape to do much but lay on the couch.

Adam's jaw tensed. "So… are you going to go out there now?"

"No, I don't think I should." Ethan said after a minute. "Look, just close it down for today, okay? You can reopen when you get back."

Adam had to will himself not to lash out at his dad, as he kept telling himself that Ethan had a problem. He was an alcoholic, after all. Yelling at him while he was hung over wouldn't do any good.

He let out a long sigh, trudging back to the restaurant part of the Boathouse. There were at least ten people already there, eating breakfast. He didn't want to make them leave, and he knew that the Boathouse couldn't afford being closed for the amount of time Ethan was suggesting. They could barely stay afloat as it was.

As much as he hated to, Adam finally put away his backpack and got back behind the bar. School was important, but if he didn't stay then when school was over he wouldn't have a house to go to.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"I forgot how stupid school is." Faye complained, huddled around a library table with the Circle.

"I forgot that you can be a pain in the—" Cassie began, only to be silenced by Diana. She nodded in Mr. Sanders' direction, as he was passing by them. "You know what I mean!"

"I do, O Perfect Child." Faye taunted. When Cassie gave her an odd look, she said, "Nevermind, dark princess. Ugh, this isn't fair! I was unable to come to school and now I'm having some stupid essay dumped on me?"

Diana rubbed her forehead. "Faye, it's only two paragraphs, and they're not even supposed to be that long or difficult. At least try to make an effort, we might not get time to work tomorrow."

Melissa was quietly scribbling in her notebook, glancing up at Diana's statement. "Diana's right, you know."

"I know." Faye said. She did, too; it just sucked, having to make up work and catch up on the essay project. "This textbook is freaking creepy, by the way. Where the hell did he get this picture anyway—?"

Mr. Sanders stopped at their table, saying, "If you don't mind, Faye, could you keep the swearing to a minimum?"

"I—" Faye almost wanted to say, _No, but I appreciate you asking._ Instead she decided not to play with fire. "Sorry."

When he was gone, she added, "See? He's a creeper! Oh, also: Damn. And hell."

"Faye!" Diana reprimanded. "Just because he asked you not to swear doesn't mean you should! Just… read. Or work."

"Where's Adam?" Melissa asked suddenly. "He has some of my notes, and I kind of need them."

"He's not here." said Cassie. "He didn't show up or call in sick."

"Oh, that?" for once Faye knew where he was. "He's probably taking care of the Boathouse, they can barely stay afloat. His dad's been drinking a lot again."

Diana looked concerned. "Oh, that's too bad. I wouldn't worry, though, usually Mr. Conant snaps out of it pretty quickly. I think his longest record of leaving the Boathouse unattended was maybe a week. In the end he's always there for Adam."

Faye snorted, clearly in disagreement. "I guess. So, is anyone else with me on the—" she glanced to make sure Mr. Sanders was far enough away, "—Mr. Sanders is a creeper theory?"

"Sure, why not." Cassie relented. "But wouldn't we have noticed him taking pictures of our Circle being bound? It's obviously not _us_."

"Still…" Faye said.

"We've been too lazy, too lenient over the summer." Melissa said after a minute. "We figured we were safe."

"Tick, tock, goes the clock, and what now shall we play? Tick, tock, goes the clock, now summer's gone away." Faye chanted in an eerie, little-girl voice.

Diana shuddered. "That's just creepy, Faye."

"Melissa's right, though." Faye said. "Summer's over; there are still people out there who want to hurt us. The Balcoins, Mr. Sanders…."

"We don't know that he wants to hurt us."

She shrugged. "But do we know what he wants?"

An uncomfortable silence fell as they all looked over to Mr. Sanders, knots twisting in their stomachs.

Faye continued chanting, repeating the quote from memory: "Tick, tock, goes the clock, and all the years they fly. Tick, tock, goes the clock; you and I must die…"

Faye stopped abruptly when Mr. Sanders got closer. He looked at her with a smirk.

"I love the tune of that rhyme," He said in a faraway voice. "One of my students at another school used to chant it all the time."

"Err…" Faye blurted, not sure of what to say but when the silence became even creepier she said the first thing that crossed her mind. "Where else have you taught classes?"

The rest of the circle paid more attention as Nicholas smirk broaden. "Oh, quite a few places, the student I was talking about was from New Orleans though. She is the daughter of a devoted, right-handed Voodoo family and I taught her Folklore about seven years ago; I hadn't seen her since she was twelve though, as her parents moved to…Washington, now that I think about it," He said frowning when it was clear he just made the connection.

"What was her name?" Melissa asked after a few moments of silence and glances.

"Eva," He replied.

Faye looked like she wanted to choke on something but her mouth was empty and Cassie didn't feel like helping. Diana and Melissa looked at each other in concern and Cassie mentally groaned. Their reactions didn't go unnoticed by the teacher.

"Do you know her?" He asked curiously.

Cassie was about to say no when her reply was cut short by Diana's mental message.

_If we tell him a simple no he will just get suspicious,_ She thought her sister.

"Then what?" Cassie asked.

Diana looked at Mr. Sanders and decided to speak before Faye or Melissa uttered a word. "We have seen her a few times at the Boathouse," She answered, causing her friends to look at her. "She doesn't live in Chance Harbour as far as I know, though, but she must live in a nearby town."

Sanders nodded.

"And you don't like her because…?"

"Because Faye mocked her once and she got back at her by trying to seduce her boyfriend Jake into going out with her," She replied, as Faye looked at her shocked and more than a little insulted.

"Hmm, she is not the girl I remember then," Mr. Sanders said after a moment. "Well, nice chat you four but focus on your essays again," He said and Diana could have sworn he looked at her with pride in her eyes before he left.

"Okay I have a new theory," Faye mumbled. "He is teacher of all creepers—though I must admit if she knew that rhyme then she has a good taste in television... hey, what was that about Lee's psycho girlfriend trying to seduce Jake?" She asked Diana.

She sighed. "Our reactions told him that we knew her, we might as well have told him we really did if not the actual truth. Until we have proof he could just be a normal human with a fiction addiction for all we know, and if Sanders plans to check on Eva and he figures out Lee is dead he might bring it over to the police; who would then interrogate us if Sanders mentions that he asked us about Lee's killer and we denied it when it was obvious we knew. So I decided to tell him a plausible lie to throw him off our tails on that particular topic."

Faye blinked. "That was some quick thinking on your part," She remarked.

Diana shrugged. "Maybe having a creeper for a teacher helps you think of excuses."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye was grateful when the last bell of the day rang; although she wouldn't admit it to anyone she was slightly worried when Adam hadn't shown up at school. After their conversation at the weekend about how he dad was acting she had been expecting him to do something rash, like skipping school to work and keep his dad's business afloat.

She had been in her last class with Melissa, so the two headed to their lockers to grab their things Melissa had been talking the whole time but Faye had been too caught up in her thoughts.

"Faye..." Melissa said slowly waving her hand in front of Faye's face as she didn't reply to Melissa comment again. Faye simply looked at Melissa,

"What?" Faye asked adjusting the bag on her shoulder as Melissa took some books out of her locker,

"You were in your own little world there." Melissa teased and Faye simply rolled her eyes,

"In my 'own little world' people don't disturb me while I'm thinking." she said, not seeing Diana and Cassie come up to them from behind,

"Thinking, Faye?" Diana asked "You feeling okay?" she teased moving to put her hand on Faye's forehead to check her temperature but Faye swatted her hand away.

"Well, as much fun as this is." she said her voice dripping with sarcasm "I have places to be." she told them before she headed down the hall and out of the school. The three remaining girls all gave each other a look before Melissa shrugged it off closing her locker.

"You guys want to come over later?" Melissa asks and they both nod,

"Sure." Cassie agreed "Just text or call one of us later and we'll head straight over."

"Great." Diana said a smile on her face "Let's get out of here." she said as they all walked out towards the parking lot to find Cassie's car.

When Faye reached the boathouse she noticed how crowded it was, after school the place was usually packed out. Even though a load of new places had opened in town, including the coffee shop Cassie had worked in, people in this place didn't seem to like breaking habits and still spent a lot of their time hanging around the boathouse.

Seeing that Adam was busy serving customers, Faye walked round the counter and got herself a drink, obviously putting the money in the till before she came to sit at the bar waiting for things to settle down. She waited around for about 20 minutes before Adam even saw her, he came over and started cleaning up plates,

"Oh, Faye it's fine you just help yourself." he told her as he noticed the almost empty glass in front of her,

"Chill Adam." she said taking a sip "I paid for it, the money's in the till." she told him.

"Seeing as you know how to work the till you want to help?" he asked an almost pleading look in his eyes, he had been almost non-stop all day and a little help would be nice,

"I'm not into slave labour." she told him finishing her drink as he groaned,

"Come on, Faye." he pleaded "I'll pay you." he told her hoping it would help but Faye just gave him a disbelieving look,

"You need that money more than you need my help." she told him "And anyway I'm too expensive for you." she teased.

"But in all seriousness." she told him her face showing how serious he was "If you need help, you should ask the dark princesses and Melissa." she said knowing they had already discussed this but she wanted him to believe they would help, "We could even call them and now and they would come running." Faye said confidently putting her phone on the counter between herself and Adam seeing if he would actually call them.

But before Adam could even reach out for the phone, it started vibrating and Jake's picture came up on screen,

"Great." Faye muttered, she wasn't very keen on speaking to Jake after their small argument that morning. Faye answered the phone and waited for Jake to say something.

"Faye?" he asked frustrated already because she hadn't said anything when she answered.

"What?" Faye answered hearing the frustration in his voice, she couldn't be bothered with another argument today.

"Where are you?" he asked

"Out." she said simply as Adam walked away to give her some privacy "Why?" she asked slightly suspicious of his motives.

"I'm at the school waiting for you." he told her slightly annoyed that he had had to ruin the surprise.

"Why?" she asked again, school had let out half an hour ago what was he doing there now?

"Because..." Jake said letting out a sigh "I wanted to apologize for this morning." he told her.

"Well, I'm not at school." she told him not wanting to expand on the details and annoy him again.

"Where are you then?" he asked, getting suspicious as to why she wasn't telling him anything "I could come pick you up and we could go do something." he suggested.

"As fun as that sounds," she said looking to Adam who was struggling with some customers, "I'm kind of in the middle of something." she admitted.

"With Adam." Jake said his anger rising, why was Faye spending so much time with him? It was really starting to get on his nerves, Faye let out a small sigh.

"Look, his dad is passed out in the back and this place is swamped." she told him "I'm just helping out until one of the dark princesses come." she lied... well, half-lied. The place was swamped and Adam's dad was more likely than not passed out in the back, but Faye wasn't really helping much.

"You could come help?" she asked, it was a serious long shot. She knew Jake was angry at the amount of time she was spending with Adam but honestly the time she had spent with Adam was nothing compared to the time he had spent with his precious vial at home, completely ignoring her.

"Sounds great." Jake said sarcastically "I'll just come by and watch my girlfriend all pally pally with some other guy who she blows me off for all the time."

"Look, I'm offering you a chance for us to spend time together and if you don't accept it then it's your problem not mine." she told him getting angry now, what right did he have to accuse her of things when he has always been 'buddy-buddy' with Cassie.

"Spending time working with you and your new boy toy isn't the way I want to spend my afternoon, sorry." he said and Faye could hear that he was getting angry

"Fine, I'll talk to you later". she said and found that Jake had cut the call off, Adam came over as Faye put the phone back down on the counter. He placed another drink in front of her.

"You okay?" he asked and Faye simply shrugged,

"This better be something strong." she said before taking a sip.

"Yeah, strong diet coke." he joked and Faye pulled a face at him. "Want to talk?" he asked.

"About the asshole that I call my boyfriend?" she said before taking another sip of her drink. "Not really." she said and Adam just gave her a small smile. Faye hadn't noticed before then but while she had been on the phone to Jake people had started to disappear from the boathouse making it a lot less busy. Giving Adam the time to check on Faye.

"I could call one of the girls." he told her "They could come help and you could go see Jake." he suggested but Faye simply shook her head.

"I'd rather not get in another argument today." she said causing Adam to frown, did she mean she and Jake had already had an argument today? He didn't really want to ask at it was none of his business, but even though Faye didn't help she did. She always told him how it was she didn't beat around the bush and with things going the way they were he needed a friend like that.

"I just don't understand what his problem is!" Faye burst out and the glass in front of her wobbled worryingly, "I have never done anything to make him not trust me, he is the one that left." she paused "Twice." she said as the glass gave another more violent shake. Adam quickly grabbed the glass and moved it away from Faye who frowned at him.

"I don't want any exploding glasses." He told her,

"That's your speciality." she snapped back and Adam raised his eyebrows at her.

"I need to do something." she said after a few seconds of silence "How about we go to the beach?" she asked Adam, who looked at her sceptically "Oh come on, I need to get rid of this pent-up magic." she said, standing up.

"We could try figuring out the skull again." she said grabbing her bag to keep herself moving so she didn't blow things up.

"I have to take care of this place." he said but then his dad appeared from the back with a coffee,

"Your shift is over, come on." she said pulling the tea towel Adam had in his hands. Letting out a large sigh Adam put the tea towel down and Faye smiled. He rolled his eyes as he cleared up before grabbing his coat "I'll be back later, dad." he said as Faye got impatient and started dragging him from the Boathouse.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Melissa, are you sure about this?" Claire asked worriedly "I mean the last time we saw Cassie she wasn't exactly fond of us."

"I'm more worried about Diana, we haven't met her yet. Who knows what she thinks of us from what others have said." Dylan joined in. Melissa shook her head at the two.

"They are your sisters, Cassie just needs to warm up to you two and learn to trust you." Melissa said but could still see the twin's unease.

"Look, I wouldn't purposely do you two wrong. If there was even a small sign things are about to go bad, I'll get you two out of the situation."

"Alright, call them over." Dylan hesitantly agreed.

The phone rang four times before Melissa heard Cassie on the other end "Hey Melissa." She answered

"Hey Cas, I was wondering if you could grab Diana and come over? There's something I need to talk to you two about."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine."

"Alright we'll see you in a bit."

"Great. See you soon." Melissa hung up the phone. Claire giving her a skeptical look.

"So why didn't you tell her we would be here?"

"You've gotten a pretty good read on Cassie right? She wouldn't have come if I said you two would be here." This, Claire could not argue with.

A short while later there was a knock at the door, Melissa went to answer it and was followed back into the living room by the two girls.

"Melissa! What the hell are they doing here?" Cassie asked shocked and hurt.

"You know I've been spending time with them, these two really aren't that bad. They have the same struggles as you and Diana with their magic."

"I thought I was going to get to meet my other sister. Why is Stephanie here?" Dylan asked confused

"Um, hi. I'm Diana, you're Dylan right?" Diana held her hand out to her brother, trying to make some peace, but Cassie just huffed and sat down a glare on her face.

"Yeah, I'm Dylan. This is Claire, why did you lie to us before?"

"Why do you think, doofus? Lucas and Ryder scared everyone. I'd lie too, and if we could go back to when we met them, that's exactly what would happen." Claire mocked. "Don't worry, Diana, we won't tell Ryder you're here."

"So, Melissa, want to tell us what this is about?" Diana asked calmly her voice speaking volumes of how hard she was trying, but also how she wasn't ready for this.

"A few days ago, I took the twins out to heal trees and plants, and while we were there we had a picnic. Claire had a... a 'family-related snap' as they called it. Where the dark magic took hold and she lost control." Melissa tried to pick her words carefully and keep her voice even, but she could still see Diana beginning to struggle with the conversation more.

"Oh?" She asked not trusting herself to say more. Claire could feel her unease and nudged Dylan.

"Yeah, it's happened three times to Claire, and a few to me. We're pretty good at calming each other down."

"Actually, I think I found an herbal tea to help with that." interrupted Melissa. "I can make you guys some, if you want."

Claire and Dylan both nodded eagerly.

"I'd really be interested in getting some of that mixture too." Diana piped in.

"Guys, the reason I brought you together, is to show all of you that just because you have dark magic, doesn't mean you're bad people. I hope all of you realize that." Melissa said looking from one Balcoin to the next, and then adding, "And so that hopefully you guys can see that not all of your siblings are bad. They see the flaws in their brothers, try and keep a distance, but still love them. They'd like a chance to get to know you guys too."

"I guess I have been a bit unfair, but with good reason!" Cassie finally spoke up.

"You have every right to be hesitant, we don't blame you, but couldn't you try to give us a chance?" Claire said nearly begging. She wanted so badly to know her sisters.

"I'll try. I really really will, but it's going to be hard." Cassie responded.

"I'll do my best too guys." Diana added

"Thank you. That's really all we want." came Dylan's voice with a smile on his face.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Once they reached the beach Faye waited impatiently until Adam unearthed the skull. He was hesitant to let her touch it unless it was absolutely necessary, fearing it would get into her head like it was getting into his.

"Ready?" she asked. "I'm so jittery and angry and I can just feel my magic boiling inside me. It's like I just drank seven coffees in a row."

"Do you want to talk about Jake?" Adam offered. Faye shook her head. "Okay. Just… put your hands on the skull like last time, and try to see what it wants."

Faye nodded, gently placing both hands of the glossy surface of the skull. She felt the all-too-familiar tug in her gut as the magic slowly spiralled through her arms, twining with her own. Suddenly she wasn't on the beach, but looking at the abandoned house, as rooms in it flashed past her eyes in fast-forward. She jerked away as though she'd been electrocuted.

"Did you see that?" Adam asked, clearly as startled as her. "It was—"

"—the abandoned house, I know. Why would the skull show us that?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. You want to try again?"

She nodded, warily placing her hands on it again. The feeling of so much power coursing through her veins was amazing, but Faye was also starting to develop a slight fear for it. This was so unlike any power she'd ever had; Cassie's power was nothing compared to this. Its strength was so powerful even Faye knew that if she wasn't careful it would consume her in a matter of seconds.

Then there were more flashes. This time they all showed the symbol that Blackwell had burned into the floor when he tried the spell to kill all non-Balcoins. At first it was from far away, and then each image was closer and closer until they could have had their faces pressed up against the floor. This time the images stopped before Faye or Adam could jump away, as though the skull was done with them.

"The Balcoin symbol?" Faye asked at last. "Why that?"

Adam didn't answer, just took the skull to the hole in the sand and began to cover it.

"Maybe it has to do with Blackwell…" she thought aloud. "Maybe it wants a spell only he could perform and doesn't realize he's dead."

"You talk like it's alive." Adam said. He dusted sand from his jeans.

Faye said, "But it _is_. Surely you can feel it."

Adam ignored her. He knew what she said was true, but he wished that it wasn't. "Want to head back? We could get drinks."

"Like yesterday? No thanks." Faye declined.

He laughed. "No, like soda. And maybe some food."

"Um… sure."

"I'll get you some chicken wings." Adam teased and Faye hit his arm

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Diana and Cassie looked at each other knowingly, they both wanted to test out their mind link, and see if maybe they were linked to their other siblings too. The thought scared them when it came to Lucas and Ryder, but maybe wouldn't be so bad with Claire and Dylan. Glancing over at the twins they both began to mentally yell at the two, but Dylan just tried to casually scratch his nose and Claire sipped on water.

"So can we hear any stories about you two?" Dylan asked them, Diana tried to answer in her head, but Dylan just stared at her waiting for the answer.

"Sure." Cassie began but Diana pinched her hard.

"OW! What was that for?" Cassie yelled and Diana frowned. She had felt the pinch but the other two didn't. While everyone was looking at the two like they were crazy Diana quickly sent Cassie a silent message _This mind link thing needs to be a secret from the Balcoins._

Cassie agreed silently as Diana apologized; "I saw a bug?"

"Right, anyways Diana, you should tell these kids about the pizza man..." Cassie said, trying to change subjects.

"NO!"

"The pizza man?" Claire asked, her eyebrow raised.

"I um... I took a little... Devils spirit… ." She said in one breath all together making it hard for anyone to understand her.

"Okay then. Note to self don't order pizza with Diana." Claire joked, Diana responded by sticking her tongue out at Claire then laughing.

"Do you guys want to see a cool spell I just learned?" Cassie asked suddenly.

"Sure!" Dylan responded, interest peaked

"Alright, Claire can I borrow your glass of water?" Cassie asked pointing to her glass

"Okay?" Claire handed the glass over.

"So this is simple." Cassie said flexing her hand and hovering her palm over the glass concentration etched on her face. Slowly she lifted her hand and as she did the water floated out of the glass, bringing her other hand up to the other side, Cassie began to dance her fingers, and pull her hands back and push them forward, as the floating water began to change shapes and dance with her hands, before long Cassie had her hands dancing like a ravers and the water changing shape so fast, and to a rhythm that Cassie was playing in her head. Claire and Dylan looked on in awe as Melissa and Diana smiled

"Now watch this." She whispered

"Versicolor." She said to the water, causing it to rotate through color spectrums, reds, blues, greens, almost every color imaginable.  
Everyone in the room stared mesmerized by the show Cassie was putting on.

"I want to try." Claire whispered as she watched the water flowing in the air.

"Alright." Cassie said taking one hand away from the floating water and lowering the other so that it fell back into the glass.

"I want you to hover your hand over the glass, and then flex your hand a few times, notice how you can almost feel the waters energy as you do this?"

"Whoa! I totally can!" Claire said excited.

"Now I want you to flex your hand again, but this time as you relax your hand I want you to also bend your fingers, almost as if you're hooking the energy around them, grabbing it, and slowly lift up."

Claire did as she was told and squealed in delight as the water followed her hand.

"Now bring the other hand up and start pulling at the waters energy, like you're playing with silly putty, or pulling taffy. Once you get comfortable with that movement you can get fancy like I did."

Once Claire was done playing with the water Dylan obviously wanted to try as well, and they spent the next hour figuring out different ways they could play with the water, at one point they had it floating over a lamp cast light around the room that danced as they did.

"I can't remember the last time I had this much fun." Claire whispered to Dylan, but Diana was able to hear her words and smiled.

…

Much later after more fun like that, Melissa called everyone into the kitchen.

"We're going to make the tinctures that will help suppress the dark magic snaps, you two want those don't you?" Melissa asked looking from Dylan to Claire.

"Yes please. I realize I don't have to be controlled by my dark magic, you three have done a wonderful job of showing me that, but it still feels right. I scared myself so bad by the thought I had after the Bunny bit me. I don't want to have those thoughts again." Claire said and by the end of it was nearly in tears. The bunny incident had been too hard on her and traumatizing.

"Yeah and I need to support her. Besides, I always feel like I can think clearer while using the herbs." Dylan also agreed.

"Well, what about you Diana? You said you might be interested?" Claire asked turning to her. Diana hesitated for a second

"I've been thinking about that all day, and as much as I like the idea, I think I'm going to have to decline. I can control myself, because I know I'd never let myself become a monster. I'm my own greatest suppressant and I know I'll do fine. Besides I have two new reasons to hang on to myself, my little Brother and sister." Diana said with a smile, earning a very surprised, warm, and happy smile from the twins.

"Thanks Diana." Claire whispered.

"Of course sis."

"Alright, Claire, Dylan, you wanna show me how your mother makes this?" Melissa asked so over joyed by the scene that just unfolded.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye groaned as she started getting impatient, " Adam, where is my food?" she asked and Adam who was in the small kitchen rolled his eyes before turning to Faye.

"You are really impatient." he told her simply as he started serving up there food, they had gotten back later than they had thought and the Boathouse was almost abandoned. They had come back to find Adam's dad drunk again and Faye had helped get him into the back room before helping clean up, telling Adam he had to make her dinner.

He put a plate in front of Faye, who smiled.

"I am starving." she said before digging into the food, Adam stayed quiet as they ate. He thought about what he was going to do about the boathouse, he couldn't keep missing school but he couldn't have the boathouse closed all day. Letting out a sigh Adam played with the food on his plate not feeling that hungry anymore.

"You okay?" Faye asked noticing the change in Adam, she put her cutlery down and took a sip of her drink waiting for Adam to respond.

"I'm always okay." he told her and Faye simply raised an eyebrow "I'm just sick of my dad putting me in this position." he admitted with a small huff, "I don't want to have to choose between this place and school."

"I already told you that you didn't have to." she told him "You can get help for you and your dad." she pointed out and Adam gave her that look.

"Look, Adam, your dad has been drinking for your whole life." she told him "He needs help so that you can both get on with your lives, at least your dad can get help."

"What do you mean?" Adam asked a small frown on his face.

"You know I said my mum was annoyed because my grades were falling?" she asked and Adam nodded "She started yelling at me when I got home earlier." she told him trying to dull down the fact her mum had actually upset her.

"How mad was she?" he asked her

"Mad enough to basically tell me she wished Cassie was her daughter." Faye grumbled quietly

With a sigh Adam went back to his food and Faye wondered if he would actually listen to what she said and get some help with his dad.

Hearing the door open Adam looked up to see if it was a customer, seeing Jake walking towards them and looked to Faye before nodding his head towards Jake. Faye turned around and let out a small sigh as she saw Jake. Turning around to Jake, she saw him looking around at the other few customers.

"You're still here?" he asked her simply, Faye thought it was a stupid question but decided to answer anyway,

"Yeah, I helped Adam clear up so he cooked us some food." she said and Adam stood up behind her.

"You want me to get you some, there is some left over." Adam said to Jake, he didn't really want to be involved in this but thought it would be best to be nice.

"Or you could just leave us be." he told Adam and both Faye and Adam could see he was getting angry,

Adam grabbed the plates "I'll be in the back." he said quietly before heading out to the back to clean up the plates and stay out of the way.

Faye watched Jake as he started pacing, she really didn't want to argue but she knew what was coming.

"You blew me off all day to spend time with him." Jake said as if saying it out loud would make things clearer.

"I didn't blow you off." Faye told him calmly "You were the one who started shouting at me this morning and to be honest I didn't want to spend time with you." she said.

"So you decided to spend time with him." he said his voice rising and pointing in the direction of the back room.

"He has a name, Jake!" Faye said her voice rising, "You know Adam, and you know me, so what is your problem?"

"My problem?" he asked "What is your problem, Faye? You are hanging around with someone you barely talk to unless you have to and you are basically avoiding everyone else and lying to them."

"You didn't answer my question." Faye said angrily, she really wanted to know what was so bad about her hanging around with Adam.

"My problem is that _my girlfriend _is avoiding me, lying and hanging round with other guys." He said sounding exasperated like Faye should know what was wrong.

"Okay, first of all just because I am your girlfriend doesn't mean I can't hang around with other guys, especially Adam" she told him "He is part of our Circle." Faye whispered angrily "And who says I've lied about anything?" she said.

"I know you better than you think, Faye." Jake told her causing Faye to raise an eyebrow, "Don't look at me like that Faye." he told her.

"Yeah, well you say you know me, then how did you not know that I'm not happy?" she asked him.

"What do you mean, you aren't happy?" he asked slightly worried, and Faye simply sighed.

"You know what it doesn't even matter, I'm going home." she said grabbing her bag and standing up to leave. Jake moved to stand in front of her.

"No, you started it, now finish it." he told her, looking down at her.

"Fine." she said dropping her bag on the stool she had just been sat on before "My mum decided to tell me that she would rather has Cassie as a daughter, happy now?" she asked before moving to walk around him and leave, she hadn't wanted to discuss this with Adam let alone Jake. They were all part of the Cassie-lovers society. Faye knew what was going happen before it did, Jake grabbed her arm and pulled her around to face him.

"And how was I suppose to know that your mum was being a bitch?" he asked.

"Well you know me so well..." Faye told him sarcastically "And if Cassie and I swapped places you could date her instead." Faye said, a look of distaste on her face.

"God, Faye, do not bring Cassie into this!" he said and Faye pulled away from him.

"And there you defending her, again!" Faye told him angrily, she was sick of this it seemed like the whole circle was in their relationship.

"I'm not defending her." he almost shouted back "I am trying to sort out your priorities, this is about you and the time you are spending with Conant." Jake said going back to the name he used to call Adam showing that Adam was probably his least favourite person right now.

"And this has nothing to do with Adam!" she told him loudly "This has to do with you being insecure or jealous or whatever because I am friends with Adam." she said "But for god's sake Jake it is Adam, we grew up with him we know him and I am not doing anything to make you act this much like a jerk."

"I am not jealous." Jake said slowly and Faye rolled her eyes,

"Then what is it, Jake? Are you threatened by Adam in some way I don't know about?" She asked, still not understanding what was wrong with him,

"It's the fact that ever since you got hurt by the Balcoins you have been going to Adam for everything, he was with you at the beach when you healed yourself and you came to him when your mum upset you. You should have come to me." he said and Faye laughed slightly.

"So I should come to you and pour my heart out after you yell at me and make me feel like crap?" she asked "You started on me when I got hurt you didn't just accept that I couldn't tell you what happened you had to start yelling and demanding answers like you always do, so I found someone who listens and doesn't demand that I tell him everything. Yelling at people doesn't make them want to confide in you."

"You know what if you want to confide in Adam so much then do it!" he shouted before rising his hands in surrender "I'm done, Faye." he said walking past her towards the door.

"At least I got a warning this time." she said, trying not to show how his words had hurt her.

"Don't even start, Faye." Jake yelled not looking back as he walked out of the boathouse slamming the door as he did.

Faye stood frozen on the spot watching the door and praying for Jake to walk back through, he'd left her again. She didn't hear the movement behind her and jumped slightly as Adam put his hand on her arm. As she turned to face Adam, he gave her a sad smile before pulling her into a hug.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Cassie and Diana walked into Cassie house and looked at each other. "What do you want to do?" Cassie asked her sister.

"I don't know. Anything really. I don't feel like doing homework right now though."

"Want to watch a movie?" Cassie asked and Diana nodded. There was nothing better to do. "You know we never did watch 'Men in Black' during the sleepover. It's just over by the DVD player."

"You got anything else to choose from?" Diana asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, come on. Help me bring my DVD collection downstairs. There's a couple of boxes in my closet." Cassie ran up the stairs and Diana shared after her. A couple of boxes? Maybe she should have just agreed to 'Men in Black'

Diana went up the stairs and together she and Cassie were able to bring the boxes of DVDs downstairs. "Okay, what do you have in here?" Diana asked surprised on how heavy the boxes were. "I thought most of your stuff got destroyed in the fire." That my dad caused, Diana thought to herself and then looked at Cassie's face. It was clear she hadn't heard anything.

"My mom and mine DVD collection survived. We used to watch movies all the time. Almost every weekend, so we kept on buying more and more. We have a ton of different stuff. Romance, science fiction, and so much more. You name it we probably have it. We also have a ton of TV Shows box sets."

Diana saw Cassie's face light up at the memory of spending time watching movies with her mom. Then at the end her face fell. "It was actually really fun. We would buy movies and TV shows we never saw and then comment on whether they were good or bad. We had a good time."

"Well maybe the two of us can start watching movies and stuff together more often." Cassie looked at Diana. "I mean if there are no evil siblings problems we'll probably have the time. Neither of us have a job anymore." Cassie smiled.

"Come on, let's find something to watch." Cassie started looking through the DVDs and so did Diana, but Diana was thinking of something.

"Cassie?" Cassie looked at Diana. "What did happen to your job?"

"I got fired." Cassie told Diana and it was clear she didn't want to talk about it anymore as she went back to looking at the DVDs. "Movie or TV show?" Diana didn't respond to the question.

"Why did you get fired?" Diana asked deciding to push the subject. When she had left Cassie had really started to get the hang of being a waitress. In fact she had gotten pretty good at it. Cassie didn't look at her. Cassie, please tell me. Diana decided to change the conversation to the link thinking Cassie might respond to that. Cassie didn't say anything, but then Diana started seeing something in her mind. They were little bits of memories from Cassie. Of Cassie looking horrible, of staying in bed, and then one of her dropping coffee cup onto someone's lap. Diana also felt something to. Emotions of being sad, of being depressed and Diana realized they were Cassie's emotions that went along with the memories. Tears came to Diana's eyes and Cassie must have realized Diana was seeing the memories because they stopped.

"Sorry, you shouldn't have had to see that," Cassie said. "Wait, we can see each other memories now?"

"I guess if you are thinking about it really hard you can." Diana didn't mention that she felt Cassie emotions too. That would be a little too weird. "Was that because of me?" Diana had to know. Cassie looked back at the DVDs.

"How about a Disney movie? I used to love 'The Little Mermaid' as a kid."

_Cassie!_ Diana thought. _I want to know._

_Yes_, Cassie finally answered._ But not just because of you. Things happened so fast last year. With everything that happened I never really mourned my mom or my grandma that well. After everything was over I got hit hard by everything I lost. My mom, my grandma, my dad and yes I know John Blackwell was a horrible father, but he was the only father I ever knew. Then you left me and that was just the icing on top of the cake I guess. I got depressed. I missed a ton of days of work and then I showed up a couple of times and totally messed up. I dropped cups, got orders confused, and I was a real mess and I got fired. Can we not talk about this anymore?_

"Okay," Diana said happy she knew and decided not to push further on the topic. She continued looking at the DVDs and one crossed her eyes. 'You like 'Star Trek?" Diana asked picking up the movie she had.

"It's not bad. That's one the new one that came out in 2009. I have some of the others in here somewhere, including TV Shows." Cassie stated and then saw Diana's face as she was looking at the movie. "What?"

"My dad loved 'Star Trek." Diana told Cassie.

"Seriously?" Cassie said almost laughing. "I never pictured Charles Meade as a trekkie."

"Well he wasn't crazy about it, but he did enjoy it. When this came out he wanted me to go see it with him, but I refused. Now I wished I hadn't."

"Let's watch it." Diana looked at Cassie. "This way you can feel closer to your dad maybe." Diana smiled and handed Cassie the DVD.

Cassie put it in to play and the two curled up on the couch as the movie started. As the movie continued Diana realized something. _Cassie, is it me or is the guy playing Spock look a lot like Mr. Sanders?_ Cassie looked and then laughed.

_A little, but not that much. You know that guy also played Sylar in 'Heroes'._ Cassie told Diana who gave Cassie a look.

_'Heroes'_? Diana asked.

_You are not a big TV watcher are you? _Diana had to admit she wasn't that big on TV. _Well somewhere in those boxes is the entire series. We'll watch season one one of these days._ Diana smiled as she agreed and they continued watching the movie.

_Diana, I'm proud of you by the way_. Cassie mentioned as Kirk finally got control of the Enterprise away from Spock.

_Proud of what_? Diana asked.

_That you didn't take the herbs Melissa offered you._ Diana didn't say anything to that at all._ I'm glad because it means you're stronger than I thought you were. I thought you would take them in a second and I'm happy you didn't. We can control the dark magic without them. We can work on it. Together._

_I know,_ Diana answered. _We can control this magic without herbs. I don't want to have to always count on herbs to be able to control it, but it does scare me Cassie. I'm afraid someday I might kill someone._

_You could never._ Cassie thought her sister._ You're too good of a person. Too strong of a person to kill someone. _Diana smiled._ Let's pay better attention to the movie. We're coming up to the really good part._

_Yeah, you're right._ Diana and Cassie continued watching as Kirk went to save the Federation.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Adam was still stood with his arms around Faye, ten minutes later. He was pretty sure Faye was in shock, she hadn't moved or said a word since Jake had stormed out of the Boathouse. Adam had been surprised when Faye hadn't pushed him away when he wrapped his arm around her, or just broken down. She was doing nothing but standing there and it was really starting to worry Adam, they all knew what she had been like two years ago when Jake had left. But this seemed different, Faye seemed worse. Keeping an arm around Faye he led her over to one of the booths and sat her down before sitting opposite her.

Faye still said nothing, Adam was right she was in complete shock. She didn't know how to function right now, she was still trying to process what had just happened. Jake had just left her, he came in he yelled and then he left. His words echoed in her ears all she could hear was him saying those three words she hadn't thought she would hear _'I'm done Faye'. _And then he was gone and she hadn't even said or done anything to make him think about stopping, she had just sniped at him and let him go.

She had broken her habit again, she'd started caring. And she had done the one thing she promised herself she would never do again, let Jake in. But she had, she had let Jake back in her life and she thought things had changed between them but it hadn't. Jake had broken her heart again and she let him do it.

Faye finally looked at Adam and could see the worry in his face, god was she crying? She tried to tell if she was but she felt numb, she assumed that if she was crying Adam would have been the typical nice guy and got her a tissue or something.

"You okay?" Adam asked her quietly, he didn't want to be the one to set Faye off but she was worrying him now,

"I'm always okay." Faye answered quietly repeating his comment from earlier though it didn't sound as convincing as his had earlier. Adam let out a small sigh.

"Look, Faye," he said before pausing, he wanted to make her feel better but he had no idea what to say to her, "Jake is an idiot." he said simply and when Faye said nothing he continued, "He's an idiot for walking out on you like this and he was a complete idiot when he did it to you two years ago. If Jake isn't going to treat you right you need to find someone who will, someone who is smart enough not to walk away."

Faye stayed quiet, she was no longer numb after Adam's word but now she just felt like crying. Why did he have to be such a nice guy right now? She needed to get out of here, she couldn't stay here and she couldn't cry in front of Adam. Faye was the bitch of the group who had the cold heart, she couldn't be seen crying.

"I've got to get home." she said sliding out of the seat and heading over to the stool to get her bag. Adam was shocked by the sudden change in Faye and could see her eyes glistening. He stood up but paused, what was he suppose to do? Faye wanted to leave but was she really in a fit state to be walking home.

"Do you want me to drop you off?" Adam asked as Faye picked up her bag and rested it on her shoulder before she shook her head, her back turned to him,

"I'll be okay, I think it's best if I clear my head." she said her voice wavering slightly as she turned to leave the Boathouse not looking back at Adam as she didn't want him to see the tears that were falling down her cheeks. Faye had no plans of going home, so she turned in the direction of the house where the one person she wanted to talk to, was currently staying.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

When the twins got dropped off they walked hesitantly into the hotel room. They never knew what would happen each time they walked in the door, because their brothers were so full of surprises.

"Lucy, you have some 'splainin' to do." came Ryder's voice as they walked in, but the twins just ignored it setting their bags down on the floor and pulling out their homework.

"What is it with you two and school? You don't need it." Lucas asked looking from them to their backpacks. He almost walked away when he noticed a bottle in Claire's bag, and her noticing that he saw it, raced to grab her bag, but Lucas was quicker.

"What the hell is this?" Lucas asked looking over the bottle and tossing it to Ryder.

"Looks like that tincture crap their mother had them on." Ryder said his voice rising in anger.

"Are you two suppressing your magic again?" He yelled at them handing it to Lucas and grabbing their bag looking for more bottles. As he found them he laughed.

"Really?" He asked throwing one at the wall.

"Suppressing the darkness inside of you?" He asked tossing another.

"You can't change what you are. No matter how many herbs you do or don't take." He asked throwing another bottle and then taking the other from Lucas and smashing that one too.

"You two can't seriously have thought we'd let that go on, could you?" Lucas asked turning to them face red in anger.

"Had to try." Claire back talked earning a good slap across the face. Claire refused to show pain though as she stood tall and looked to Dylan, who in turn nodded to her. Glaring at Lucas and Ryder who looked ready to advance some more, the two sent them flying across the room, holding them against the wall, feet dangling off the ground. However instead of the effect the twins had hoped for, Lucas and Ryder just began to laugh. They laughed so hard and so long that when they were finally let go, the fell to the floor still laughing. Finally Ryder looked up and almost ominously said,

"It's time you two realized what you are. Powerful and dark, you aren't 'good witches', your blood is dark. It's evil, and it's time you learned to focus on that fact." Nudging Lucas, the two left the hotel room. As the door shut Claire broke down crying.

"Is he right? Are we really evil?"

"No, no we're not. Don't listen to them! Listen to what Melissa taught us. Believe in your reading today. Did your read suggest in the least bit that they were evil?"

"No, but Diana struggles with it, she believes her magic makes her so, but she's not."

"Exactly, you're not evil Claire, and there's no reason you should think so."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

I'm never going to be able to look Mr. Sanders in the eye again." Diana complained. "I swear, I'll be sitting in class and then I'll just burst out laughing, imagining him with Spock ears."

"You mean Vulcan ears." Cassie corrected, earning a look from Diana. 'What? That's what he is. Geez, get your facts right."

Diana was about to start up the insults when the doorbell rang. "Who is that?"

"I'll answer." said Cassie quickly. "If it's one of the older Balcoins, remember that you're Stephanie and not Diana. I mean, I guess it's okay the younger ones know, but Ryder and Lucas can't."

When Cassie opened the door the person standing there wasn't a Balcoin; it was Faye, shivering and crying. "Faye? What's wrong?"

Faye shook her head mutely, shoulders shaking. Cassie reached out, gently pulling her inside by the arm. Faye, who would have normally snapped at Cassie for touching her, was silent. Cassie put a hesitant arm around the dark-haired girl's shoulders.

"Cassie, who is it—" Diana asked, walking in. She stopped abruptly when she saw Faye. "Oh no, what happened? Are you hurt again, Faye?"

Faye shook her head.

"Did someone threaten you?"

Another silent no.

Diana grasped both of Faye's freezing hands and led her into the living room with Cassie behind her. "Then what happened?"

Faye gulped, sniffing. "J-Jake broke up w-with m-m-me."

Instantly Cassie and Diana sat down on either side of Faye, softly telling her that Jake was an idiot and that she deserved better. Faye wasn't in agreement with that.

"H-He's better off w-w-without me." Faye sobbed. She was heartbroken. "I'm a-always out doing s-something without h-h-him, and I got mad w-when he wanted to learn more about t-that damn vial."

Cassie glanced up to see Jake storming into his house. He looked furious. "Diana?"

"Yeah?"

"I'll be right back." Silently, she though, _I'm going to go check on Jake. He looks really angry and I think maybe he needs a friend too._

_But what about Faye? _Diana thought. _He hurt her. _

_She'll be fine here with you. I'll be back soon, okay?_

Diana didn't answer, nodding instead. "Faye, did you hear Cassie? She'll be coming back in a little while."

When Cassie was gone Diana snuggled closer to Faye, stroking her hair. "You're going to be alright." she whispered. She reached behind Faye, pulling the blanket on the couch around the shaking girl. "I promise."

"I hope you're right." Faye said. She was starting to calm down, the tears lessening until she was finally slowing her breathing. She sighed, closing her eyes. "Why can't I just let things be sometimes?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" Faye didn't want to tell Diana about the skull. "I pestered Jake about that vial when I knew he was only trying to help you and Cassie, and then I started hanging out with Adam."

"So?" Diana said. "You and Adam used to be friendly, remember? Of course, that was a while ago, but still…"

"I antagonize people." stated Faye. "I think sometimes I self-sabotage without really meaning to. I just _have _to know everything; I have to be involved in everything, I have to get all the attention."

Diana was silent, considering Faye's words. "Faye," she said at last, "You're a good person. Everyone has their flaws."

Faye laughed, bitter and regretful at the same time. "Yeah. It's like that song I like so much. I'm the kid with a Rubik's cube."

"Oh, Faye…"

"No, really." Faye said. She chanted softly, "I'm like a kid who just won't let it go, twisting and turning the colours in rows. I'm so intent to find out what it is. This is my Rubik's cube, I know I can figure it out."

Diana shook her head. "You're a lot more than that, Faye. Who knows? Maybe tomorrow Jake will want you back."

"Cassie went to see him, didn't she?" asked Faye suddenly.

Diana didn't even bother lying. "Yes."

"He's probably better off with her anyway. She's all tame and docile. He's… not. I'm like him, which is why we spark. He'd be better with her."

Diana didn't answer, instead rocking back and forth with Faye's head on her lap, humming softly.

Faye's eyelids began to droop. "I'm… I just… can I stay here tonight? My mom's not too happy with me…"

"Of course you can, Faye."

She waited patiently, listening to Faye's rambling as she drifted off. As soon as Faye's eyes had fluttered shut she quietly slid out of under Faye, coming back a few minutes later with another blanket and pillows. As soon as Faye was comfortably arranged on the couch, Diana sat down next to it and fell asleep with her head next to Faye's.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie ran out of the house and started going next door._ Cassie, where are you going?_ Diana asked. She was inside comforting a crying Faye.

_Going to go talk to Jake._ Cassie told her sister._ Sorry Di, but I don't want you in my head right now._ Then Cassie thought about blocking Diana out.

She went up to Jake's house and opened the door. "Jake," Cassie yelled out and went up the stairs. She found Jake in her bedroom sitting on his bed. "Jake." Cassie sat next to him and put her arm around the boy. "There's no way Faye likes Adam. It's laughable."

"I know," Jake admitted. "I was just angry at her. I shouldn't have said what I did."

"Then go next door and apologize to her." Cassie told Jake, but he made no move to get up at all. "Jake's what's wrong? Tell me everything and I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to." Jake gave Cassie a look. "I can keep a secret from Diana, even with this mind link thing we have going on."

Jake nodded and knew he could tell her everything. "I know I started our problems with the vial stuff. I know I got a little obsessive over it." Cassie chose not to comment on that one. There had been plenty of jokes made about that vial already. She was pretty sure they could let it go. "But I'm done with the vial now. I know what it does and I want to spend time with her. I keep trying, but she keeps sneaking off on me. I don't know where she's going and then I always find her with Conant."

"She and Adam have gotten closer lately." Jake gave Cassie a look. "I'm sure it's nothing though. They just became better friends."

"She won't tell me what's she's doing with him. She won't tell me where's she's going. She wouldn't even tell me who hurt her. At least when I was being weird she knew it wasn't for another girl. I was with a vial. She keeps going around with another guy. I can't help but feel betrayed." Jake looked down at the floor and Cassie had a feeling this was the closest anyone has ever come to seeing Jake cry.

Jake led down on the bed. "Just go home and comfort Faye or something." Jake told Cassie. "Leave me alone."

Cassie pushed Jake to the side with her magic to make room on the bed so she could lie down next to him. "No, I'll stay here with you all night if I have to. We can talk and maybe find a way to fix things. Figure out what to do."

"What is there to do?" Jake asked looking at Cassie. The two were so closed as they both lay on Jake's bed. "My relationship is over. I screwed things up with Faye. I've screwed everything up since I arrived here."

"Not true," Cassie told Jake. "You made mistakes, but everyone does. You've helped us. Saved us a couple of times. You devoted a lot of time to figuring out what that sand was to protect us. If Faye can't see that and see what a great guy you are then screw her. You don't need her."

"I have screwed everything up." Jake said. "I screwed things up with you."

"No you didn't. I choose Adam over you. You did nothing wrong."

"You choose Conant. Faye is now choosing Conant. What the hell does that guy have that I don't?" Jake asked Cassie.

"I already told you. Faye and Adam getting together is not going to happen. Not in any universe would that happen." Cassie took a deep breath. "As for me well you see how well choosing Adam went. We're cursed and nearly killed you. We gave up our love for each other so you wouldn't die."

Jake nodded and the two were silence for a while. "Why do you care so much about me?" Cassie gave Jake a confused look. "Why did you come here? Why not stay with your sister and comfort Faye? Why not have a little girls night about how all guys suck? Why come talk to the guy?"

"You're my friend too and you've been there for me before. Remember this summer?" Cassie asked and Jake laughed. "You were the only one who realized I wasn't getting out of bed for like three days."

"In everyone defense I was the only one in any position to realize it. I mean I can see your bedroom through my bedroom window. Everyone else, even Dawn, just came by and thought you were sleeping in. I was the only one who could know you were barely getting out of the bed."

"You came over and let me cry into your shoulder." Cassie told Jake. "It was very sweet."

"I called Faye and Melissa over and handed you off to them." Jake laughed. "After that night you seemed to have gotten better though."

"No," Cassie stated. "I was still a mess. Still am at times. I have problems sleeping and last week when I was staying over Faye's house I cried for 15 minutes because I was looking at pictures of my grandma, mom, and Diana on my cell phone. I guess I just learned how to deal better with it after that night."

"How?" Jake asked.

"I guess I realized that even though they were gone I still had people here for me. The rest of the Circle was still here and you guys still cared. I finally realized how much trouble Dawn was going through to be my guardian and she started to feel like family. Knowing I had you guys here for me if I wanted you helped." Cassie put a hand on Jake's arm. "You know I'm here for you Jake. I always will be."

"You're the best friend I have." Jake told Cassie.

Cassie smiled and the two continued to talk for hours, but after a while the two started to get sleepily. They started to close their eyes and both fell fast asleep. While they were asleep Jake put his arms around Cassie brought her closer to him. Cassie laid her head on Jake's chest and that's how they spent the entire night.


	8. Undertow

**Plotline writers – Forcystus5, xleamalfoyx, Coralinas, thefallenloveoflife,**

**Writers – Coralinas, Forcystus5, CharmedMilliE, ilove2dance, luisa Mendoza, thefallenloveoflife, witch-witha-B, TtylerMaria**

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Episode 8 – "Undertow"

Faye sat in the library looking down at a piece of paper. She didn't actually know why she was here. She was supposed to be studying and writing her two paragraphs for that stupid essay, but all she could think about was what she was going to do over the weekend since it was Friday. She did not want to stay in Chance Harbor. She wanted to get away and go somewhere fun, but she couldn't figure out where. As Faye was thinking about this she decided that the decision could wait until later and she looked back down at Mr. Sander's notebook. She was having more trouble with this essay then she thought she should have and she figured she should get some studying done to get her mom off her back about her grades. Although it's not like she was really talking to her mom lately. Since a few days ago when they had had their talk she had been avoiding her mom even though her mom had tried to talk to her. She had no interest in hearing more about how great Cassie was and how bad she was.

"Wow, Faye Chamberlain is actually in the library." Maybe thinking about Cassie had cursed Faye. Right then Cassie and Diana had walked into the library.

"What's it to you, Blake?" Faye said and Cassie could hear anger in Faye's voice which confused her. It wasn't like Cassie had actually done anything to upset Faye.

"It's just unusual," Cassie told Faye taking a seat at Faye's table followed by Diana.

"Well my mom is on my back about my grades. Not like she would ever be on your back about your grade little miss perfect." Cassie gave Faye a confused look over the comment. Cassie sometimes enjoyed hers and Faye's little back and forth between each other, but she had no idea where this one was going. It was confusing her. At least when they were arguing about pasta she knew what to say back.

"What are you talking about Faye?" Cassie asked.

"Never mind," Faye mumbled. She would really want to get into Cassie about this, but to argue with Cassie about this means she would have to explain to Cassie about Dawn wanting Cassie to be her daughter. The last thing Faye wanted to do was have that conversation. "I have to get my two paragraphs done on our essay. When is that due again?"

"Monday," Diana said shocked Faye wasn't done yet. Her, Adam, Melissa, and Cassie were already done and were just waiting for Faye to put it all together. "How are you not done yet? It's two paragraphs about the pros and cons of binding a Circle?"

Faye gave Diana a look which made Diana shut up. "Whose bright idea was this topic anyway? You don't think this is a bit of a risky topic for us to give to him if we think he might know something." Diana and Cassie looked at each other. Truthfully they hadn't thought of that when the topic was picked.

Before they could say anything though they heard Mr. Sanders voice going "Hello you three." They all slowly turned around to look at him. "Getting some work done in the morning before school?" They nodded. "Well it's good to see young people hard at work. I'm just going to be over here organizing books. Tell me if you need anything." They nodded again.

"What is he doing here?" Faye whispered to Cassie and Diana.

"He runs the library," Diana whispered back. "We should have expected him to be here."

"He runs the library and teaches a class? How does he do that?" Faye asked confused.

"He only has one class. Our class," Diana informed Faye and then got up followed by Cassie. "Let's get out of here." Faye closed her books and grabbed her stuff and the three started to walk to the door.

"You three leaving so soon?" They froze and turned to looked at Mr. Sanders. "I thought you had some work to do."

"Well we have to go meet with Melissa and Adam before class." Diana lied to Mr. Sanders as she looked at him. She couldn't help but in her head to tell Cassie 'just think of him with those Spock ears. I can totally picture him driving the Enterprise.' Cassie had to stop herself from laughing, but wasn't able to as a small chuckle escaped.

"Well then don't let me keep you from your super secret coven meeting." The three almost missed the word coven, but stopped when they realized it and looked at each other and then back at Mr. Sanders. Did he seriously just call them a coven?

The three basically ran out of the library. "Okay, that gets added to the Mr. Sanders is a creeper theory," Faye commented.

"Yeah, I mean what was with calling us a coven if he knows nothing?" Cassie asked and then looked at Diana. "By the way it's Vulcan ears and Spock doesn't drive the Enterprise. He's the first officers and that joke stopped being funny days ago."

"You laughed," Diana pointed out and Cassie stuck her tongue out at Diana.

"What are you two talking about?" Faye asked getting completely lost with where this conversation went.

"We were watching 'Star Trek' the other night before you came over and there is this actor... You know what never mind." Diana stated when she saw Faye's face at the words 'Star Trek.' There was really no point in explaining that much. "Let's just say it's an inside joke between Cassie and I."

"Okay," Faye said not really wanting to hear anymore. "What is it with you two lately? It's like you're attached at the hip now that you worked everything out."

"We're sisters," the two said together.

"So how are you doing?" Diana asked Faye. "Still upset about Jake?"

"No," Faye said.

Cassie for her part got very quiet the minute Jake was mention. Her mind went back to Wednesday morning when she had woken up with Jake's arms around her. It's not like they had done anything, but truthfully that had been a great night sleep. Cassie liked the feel of Jake's arms around her as she remembered that morning. 'What was that memory?' Cassie heard Diana and then realized she hadn't blocked Diana out of what she was thinking. 'I just saw a memory of you waking up in Jake's arm. Cassie talk.'

'Not right now,' Cassie thought back.

"Okay, you two are leaving me out of the conversation which is a little annoying considering I'm walking next to you. Rude much! What's going on?" Faye said realizing the two must be having a conversation through their link. It was obvious by the looks they were giving each other and their faces.

"Nothing," Cassie said giving Diana a warning look. 'Don't tell her.' Cassie thought to Diana and then continued with Faye. "I was just thinking about something that happened before I moved to Chance Harbor and Diana saw the memory and wanted me to explain."

"Yeah, you will have to explain later," Diana told Cassie.

"You two can see each other memories?" Faye asked surprised by the information.

"Yeah, and we can also feel each other pain if we get hurt and sometimes emotions," Diana told Faye. Faye went and pinched Cassie.

"Ow," both Cassie and Diana said putting their hand on the spot that Faye pinched Cassie. "Why?"

"Just wanted to see." Faye said with a laugh. "Man you two are kind of attached at the hip now. This link between the two of you has gotten stronger. You are not just hearing each other thoughts anymore."

"Well we can block each other out if we want," Cassie told Faye as they stopped outside of Diana's locker. "Hey guys, the cafeteria's right over there and I kind of want to go see if they have those freshly made chocolate chip cookies that the lunch lady brings in in the morning. If they do, do you want one?"

"Yes," Diana answered as she took books out of her locker.

"What about you Faye?" Cassie asked as she started to walk away.

"I don't need anything from you," Faye snapped at Cassie making Cassie look at her. Cassie wasn't too sure what she did to Faye this time, but it was clear Faye was mad at her for some reason.

"Alright," Cassie said walking away.

"What's up with you?" Diana asked when Cassie disappeared. "Your being all mean to Cassie for no reason."

"I'm always mean to Cassie. Besides you shouldn't talk about being mean to Cassie. At the beginning of this week you were the one making her cry."

"This is different than your normal arguments with Cassie. Lately they've been more playful then mean and Cassie has always known what you were mad at her about. In fact sometimes I think the two of you enjoy your arguments. This time though Cassie has no idea why you've been snapping at her. She can't defend herself and argue with you if she has no idea what this is about." Diana closed her locker. "Besides the fact is aren't you the one who yelled at me about being mean to Cassie."

"Yeah well you were being down right cruel to her when your her sister and had never been like that to anyone before. She needed you and you never even bothered to figure out how miserable she was in the summer when you ditched her and the rest of us had to take care of her when she fell into a depression. I was the only one who could snap you out of your bitch-y spell" Diana choose not to comment about that point. "This is different."

"Then explain to me what's going." Diana said. "Does this have to do with Jake? Nothing has happened between him and Cassie since you broke up or anything." _Well nothing yet_, Diana added in her head, but choose not to say it out loud. "You can't be mad at Cassie about that anyway. You and Jake broke up."

"I already told you I'm not upset over Jake anymore. I'm done with him. It's over between us. As far as I'm concerned Cassie can have him. In fact I told you the other day Cassie is probably better for him then me."

"Then please explain to me what you're so upset about." Faye didn't answer, but it was clear she was looking at something. Diana turned around to see Cassie walking back to them with Dawn Chamberlain walking next to her. The two were clearly talking

"Hey, Di. Here's your cookie." Cassie said holding out the cookie to Diana who took it.

"Hello Diana. Cassie just told me you moved in with her." Dawn said with a smile at Diana.

Diana smiled. "Yes, Ms. Chamberlain. I hope that's okay." Diana realized that since Dawn was Cassie guardian she could easily say she didn't want Diana there and kick her out.

"I'm happy about it. I was always a little worried about Cassie being alone in such a big house. Besides you two are sisters." Dawn told Diana who nodded happy. "Well I have to get to my office and do some paperwork. Cassie, you're coming over for dinner tomorrow right?"

"Wouldn't miss it," Cassie said taking another bite of her cookie.

"Good, Diana, would you like to join?" Dawn asked.

"Sure, do you want some help? Cassie and I could come over early and I could help you in the kitchen. Cassie can't since she can't cook, but she could set the table." Diana said

"Sounds like a plan,' Dawn said and then turned to Faye. "Faye, we need to talk later at home."

"I don't think so and I'm not going to be at this dinner, but have with your surrogate daughter and her sister." Faye walked away and Dawn rolled her eyes and left leaving Cassie and Diana alone.

"Surrogate daughter? Did Faye mean me?" Cassie asked Diana confused.

"I think so," Diana told Cassie and then started eating her cookie.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Hey you two idiots, come here, we need to talk to you." Lucas shouted as he and Ryder came into the hotel room. Claire and Dylan quickly got up from the school work they were doing and went to sit near Lucas and Ryder, waiting to see what they wanted.

"Right, we've been talking and we've decided that we are going to start looking for our father's book of shadows." Lucas told Claire and Dylan, who didn't look very bothered. "All of us." He added.

"Lucas and I figure that it must be here somewhere as Blackwell wouldn't have come to Chance Harbour without it, he probably hid it well though. However with the four of us together we should easily find it with our magic."

"What's the point though, we don't really need it." Dylan said, he didn't think finding this book of shadows was a good idea.

"What's the point? What's the point? Seriously, are you thick? Do you realise how much information will be in John Blackwell's Book of shadows, how many spells and ancient bits of magic there will be? This book is priceless and its better we have it and use it then letting Cassie, Diana and their circle have it." Lucas ranted at Dylan, angry that he was questioning what he was told to do.

"Claire I want you to ask one of your new little mates if they know where it is." Ryder sneered, Claire nodded shakily looking upset.

"No. It will be easier to just do a spell to locate the book." Lucas ordered. "Just in case Diana has it or some other idiot took the book out of town and tried to hide it."

"Ok." the other three agreed. The four of them sat in a circle in the middle of the hotel room, repeating what Lucas told them to, they started chanting the incantation to a spell which would locate the book.

Lucas had laid out a map of Chance Harbor on the table, with four crystal on; one on each corner. After about a minute they started to vibrate and a light started shining on the map, highlighting the woods just outside of Chance Harbor.

"That's it, that's where the book is!" Lucas told the others jumping up and running over, he grabbed a bag and put a couple of things in before turning round to where Claire Dylan and Ryder were still sat.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" He asked staring at them, Ryder quickly got up and grabbed Lucas's car keys however Claire and Dylan still stayed sat down, not wanting to go and find Blackwell's book of shadows.

"For god's sake you two, get up now!" Lucas shouted marching over to where they were, Claire jumped up shocked and started backing up to the door, clearly scared. Dylan stood up grabbed his jacket and started following Claire who had now left their hotel room and was heading down to the car park, trying to get away from Lucas.

"You think we're going to have trouble with those two?" Lucas asked Ryder as they walked to the car.

"I dunno, I think we should watch them a bit more closely though, they are getting very friendly with Cassie and her Circle. We don't want them starting to question what we're doing." Ryder told Lucas.

"Don't worry; I have my eye on them." Lucas assured him coolly. "Now let's go find this book of shadows." he added hurrying out to the car.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie and Diana were in Melissa's room getting the last of Diana's stuff. "I can't believe you've been living with me for the last few days and we haven't picked all this up yet." Cassie complained as they finally finished packing all of Diana's stuff.

"Well we had school and things to do," Diana defended as the two started to walk out of the house

"You two done?" Melissa asked walking out of the kitchen.

"Yeah, I got everything." Diana told Melissa and then hugged the girl. "Thank you so much for letting me stay here."

"It was no problem. In fact it was fun." Melissa said. "Come over anytime. That goes for you too Cassie. I liked hanging out with you more."

"Will do," Cassie said. "See you later."

Cassie and Diana left Melissa's house and put the stuff into Diana's car. It was a quiet ride back to Cassie's house and when they got back the two were silent as they brought all of Diana's stuff up to a guest room. Diana started to unpack and Cassie sat on Diana's bed.

"So, this is your room now." Cassie said and Diana looked at her. "You can do whatever you want with it. I mean decorate it and stuff. If you don't like the color we can always paint the room." Cassie looked around. "Or find a spell that will change the color."

Diana hugged Cassie and smiled. She felt really at home here and she could see Cassie was trying to make her feel at home too. "Or we could get Jake to paint the room." Diana joked and saw Cassie blush. "We still haven't talked about that memory I saw before about you and Jake. Spill."

"Nothing happened," Cassie told Diana. "It was when I went over to Jake's house the other day to comfort him. We were talking and we fell asleep. When we woke up somehow in our sleep my head ended up on his chest and his arms were around me."

"You two like each other. You've always liked each other." Diana stated. "You were willing to trust him when none of us were and he left being a witch hunter for you. I say you go for it. I think Faye would be cool with it."

"He is just getting over a break up. He hasn't even left his house for a few days because he's avoiding Faye," Cassie told Diana.

"Well I didn't say right now. Give it some time, but I think something between the two of you could work out eventually. I just want you to be happy Cassie." Diana told her sister with a smile and Cassie smiled back.

Cassie stood up and looked around. "You finish unpacking. I'm going to go search through my boxes of DVDs to find the first season of 'Heroes' so you can see more of the Mr. Sanders look alike." Cassie left the room.

Diana paused for a minute still thinking about Cassie, Jake, and even Faye. She didn't know how Faye would really react if Cassie and Jake actually got together, but she did want her sister to be happy again. Happy in the way Grant made Diana and the way Adam had once made Cassie. She was truthful with Cassie saying she thought Jake and Cassie could work out and Diana would do whatever she had to help Cassie.

Diana continued unpacking her clothes and putting pictures on the nightstand. When she was done she really looked around. This was her room now. She hadn't had her own real room since she left with Grant. She was really happy to finally be officially living with her sister.

Diana walked down the stairs to find Cassie on the floor looking though the boxes. There were a bunch of DVDs on the floor around her. "What's going on?" Diana asked making Cassie turn around.

"I know it's in here somewhere, but it's impossible to find in with all these other DVDs. I mean really hard to find. I think we're going to have to take everything out of the boxes one day and organize everything in a cabinet or something."

"Need a hand?" Diana asked as she helped Cassie look through the boxes.

"Found it," Cassie finally said after a few minutes of searching as she held up the seasons with a smile. "Play episode one?"

"Play it," Diana said and Cassie put the DVD in. The two curled back up on the couch. "So who does Mr. Sanders look alike play?"

"The villain," Cassie told Diana with a smile and Diana laughed.

"Seriously?" Diana asked and Cassie nodded. "This should be interesting."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"So, I'm just trying to find somewhere to go." Faye said, ignored Adam's bored-to-death expression. She'd been telling him about how she was going to go away for the weekend. "I'm honestly thinking that even camping out in a hotel for the weekend would be nice."

"I'm sure it would." Adam had been considering finding somewhere else to stay, or sleep, since his dad was constantly drunk. It was annoying, cleaning up the food and bottles scattered throughout their bedrooms, and Adam hated seeing his dad that way.

Faye grinned. "Oh, yeah. If I only knew a cheap place…"

"How about the lake house?"

"What?" Faye asked.

"The lake house." Adam said again. "You know, the one your grandfather owned. I know it might seem weird, because he… was found there, but you used to be so happy when you went there as a kid. Besides, you haven't been there since he was found, and I think maybe it'd help you."

"Really?" Faye asked. "It's not like I've been avoiding going back. I just… I guess I never thought about it much. You know, trying not to die and everything."

"I know."

Lazily twirling the straw in her drink, Faye said, "Why don't you come too? You look like you could use a break from all this."

"And by 'all this', you realize you're talking about the only way I can afford to eat, right?" Adam said.

"Yeah, but couldn't someone else take care of it?" Faye said. "I bet I could guilt Cassie into it by telling her my mom likes her better."

Adam sighed. "Faye…"

"What? I'm a master at getting what I want." Faye replied. She batted her eyelashes at him. "Please? I can get Diana and Melissa too, since they're both goody-two-shoes. I'll prove it to you now, if you want."

He gestured at the phone she had in her hand. "By all means, go ahead."

"Fine." Faye flipped open her phone, dialling Cassie's number. "Cassie?"

"What, Faye?" the blond sounded annoyed.

"Well, I want to get out of town this weekend, because…" Faye faux-sniffed, trying to make it sound like she was crying.

"Is something wrong?" Cassie asked, concerned. Faye smirked. She's too easy.

Faye sniffed and gulped a few more times. "I, um… I'm just really bummed about Jake."

"You told Diana and I that you weren't."

"Yeah, but that was a lie." Faye said. "It's awful, everything's awful. Jake's gone, Mom wants to disown me and keep you as a daughter, my grades are slipping—"

"What was that second one?" Cassie asked. "Your mom wants to disown you?"

"Oh, that's nothing." Faye said, faking a sob. "She, um, she told me she'd rather h-have you as a daughter."

"Oh, Faye, I'm so sorry. I'm sure she doesn't mean that."

Faye said, "It doesn't matter. I just want to get away, and Adam wants to come with me—you know, since his dad is still drinking. Do you think you, Diana, and Melissa could watch the Boathouse this afternoon and over the weekend?"

"Of course, Faye." Cassie said. Faye could practically hear her annoying smile. "I'm glad you told me about all the stuff that's bothering you, and I'll be happy to help. I hope you have a good time, wherever you go."

When she hung up, Faye smirked at Adam. "She's too easy. Any time I pretend to show my emotions she and Diana get all sappy, like we're besties. It's annoying, but it works."

"You win." Adam said. "I'll go. Should I get ready to leave now?"

Faye nodded. "Yeah, pick me up in half an hour."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Melissa was driving to the Lake where the Crystal Skull was rebuilt. She called Dylan and Claire because she thought they might want to help in the boathouse and they agreed but now Melissa had to pick them up. She frowned when they told her where they were but she shrugged it off. It is a beautiful place anyway and it's not like the two knew that was where the skull was formed. They probably just went there to get away from their older brothers.

Eventually Melissa parked her car close to the water and got out when she saw the young Balcoins staring at the water.

"Hey are you ready to go?" Melissa called once she was three feet from them.

They turned around and Melissa stopped abruptly when she saw Claire's eyes. They were red from crying and Dylan wasn't too far off either.

"What happened?" Melissa asked concerned.

"You happened," Said a temperamental voice behind her.

Before she could process what was happening, she was flung several feet in the air and crash into the rocks. Melissa screamed in pain and she shook her head, trying to figure out what happened.

"So the kind witch finally makes an appearance," Lucas said, his eyes flaring. "This time I will finish what I started."

Melissa looked shocked and her shock turned to hurt when she looked at the younger Balcoins. They lured her here? Why had they done it? She had been nothing but nice to them and they had seemed nice back. She had even gotten Diana and Cassie to give them a chance which they had seemed to want.

Melissa tried to concentrate so she could use a spell but before she could clear her head her legs felt like lead and she knew she was paralyzed. There was nothing she could do.

"You are not escaping this time," Ryder said with his eyes narrowed.

"You are breaking the truce," Melissa said, weakly hoping that would save her from this. The older one Lucas always seemed to want to keep the truce going.

Ryder sighed.

"We are well aware of that. Unfortunately for you, there are more important things than the truce, like making sure Claire and Dylan stay on our side. With the amount of time you keep spending with them it is only a matter of time before you turn them against us. As much as they annoy me sometimes, they are still family and family doesn't betray each other," He declared, looking at the younger two who nodded their agreements even though they still seemed sad "You are a bad influence on them and such we have to eliminate you. Nothing personal."

Melissa looked at the younger Balcoins with a pleading look, but they both looked too afraid to do anything. Claire eyes met Melissa's, but she turned away. Melissa knew they were not going to help her and that hurt a lot. She had called them her friends and defended them against the rest of her Circle. The others had been right about not trusting them. Then she looked at Lucas, who was playing with a knife.

"Well, I guess I will get your power this time," Lucas said with an evil chuckle.

Melissa gulped. She still couldn't believe her new friends lured her here to be gutted like a pig in slaughter house though they do seem like they don't want to do or watch this. Lucas played with the tip of his knife by making circles in Melissa's chest and bathing in her growing fear. Melissa knew that even if she tried to make a spell, she was outgunned and outnumbered.

"Well, nice knowing you," He said, cackling.

Lucas raised his knife upwards and then directed it toward Melissa's chest. She closed her eyes in desperation, praying for something to happen to save her.

Suddenly, the abrupt sound of an enormous thunder split the sky in two. It was so loud and sudden that Lucas dropped his knife startled and looked around. As if that wasn't enough, the sky turned black and menacing at supersonic speed when it was blue and clear five seconds ago.

"What is going on?" Claire asked, even more afraid than before. This was not normal and all she wanted was to get out of there.

The Balcoins then turned back to the lake and saw thick fog rising. Inside the fog there was a tall human figure but the face wasn't visible through the mist. The figure then extended an arm outside the fog and they all saw some kind of round talisman the size of a tennis ball, made of turquoise gem and with some Native American engraving of a bird in its dead center.

"Leave now children of darkness," The figure said menacingly. "The forces of nature do not want you here."

As if to prove his point, a dozen thunderbolts fell from the sky at the same time and hit far away rocks at the borders of the lake.

Lucas glowered at the figure.

"We can take you too!" He yelled and looked like he was about to run at the figure.

Ryder placed a hand in his shoulder to stop Lucas from doing anything stupid. Under normal circumstances, Lucas would have just shrug it off, but the look on Ryder's face made him think otherwise. Lucas had known Ryder most of his life and he knew that expression well, even if he doesn't show it often. That pale expression indicates when he admitted defeat, if only for the time being. Lucas may be temperamental but he was not suicidal and he knew that when the brain of their family realizes something is beyond them he better listen.

"Let's go," Ryder said firmly and then looked at Claire and Dylan. The two were more than happy to leave and gave Melissa one sad look before following their older brothers.

Once they were far enough away the paralysis spell was undone and Melissa was able to move. Melissa stood up and rubbed her head as she looked at the figure. The figure may have saved her but she was also afraid of it. Whoever has enough power to make such a storm show deserves to be feared.

"Who are you?" She asked shakily really wishing another member of her Circle was here. She should have brought Cassie and Diana with her to pick up the younger Balcoins. If she had things would be different right now.

The mist disappeared in an instant and Melissa jaw dropped.

"Hello, Melissa," Mr. Sanders said with a smirk. "Is your essay ready for Monday?"

Melissa back away in fear. Everyone was right about this man! He knew about them and might just be out to kill them! Also he was ridiculously powerful! Without thinking more clearly on the situation she ran like hell toward her car and drove off without looking back.

"Melissa," Mr. Sanders called after her, but was unable to stop the girl in time. He stood there for a minute before he decided to run after his student to explain.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

As Faye led the way into her Grandfather's lake house, she quickly switched on the lights of the semi-dark house and watched as it all lit up around her. She heard Adam close the door behind her, she wouldn't admit it but she wasn't too sure she wanted to be here anymore. The last time they had been here, they had found her grandfather's body and she had so many memories in this house of her Grandfather and of Jake.

Adam noticed that Faye had seemed to have frozen and he looked to her. He placed their bags at the bottom of the stairs, feeling like he needed to give Faye some time. They had all seen how distraught she had been when Cassie found the body of her Grandfather.

After a few minutes Adam put his hand on Faye's arm and she jumped slightly before realising it was only Adam. He gave her a sad smile and she just turned away "Wonder if any of that alcohol is left" she said as she looked through the cabinets in the dining room. Adam went over into the living room and started the fire as Faye came back a bottle in each hand.

Both immediately sat down on each of the sofas and started drinking. Both of them were glad to be away from Chance Harbour and all of the drama even if it was for the weekend. Adam was starting to think his dad would never be completely sober, meaning he would never be able to take care of his son like he used to.

Faye on the other hand was glad to be away from her mom, so many times her mom made comments about wanting Cassie as her daughter and how well mannered and well behaved Cassie was. Faye had been thinking about it on the drive here and realised that the only reason Cassie was like that was because of the way her mom raised her. So that meant that Faye's attitude was because of the way her mom had raised her.

Faye took a large sip from the bottle and pulled a face, the drink was disgusting and strong so it would definitely do the job. She was already three quarters of the way through the bottle, when Adam's phone rang. Sitting up Adam put his bottle down and looked at the caller ID,

"It's my dad" Adam said, debating whether to answer it or not. The whole point of the weekend was to get away from their parents and the drama of Chance Harbour.

When Faye noticed Adam was going to pick up the phone she lunged for it pulling it out of Adam's reach,

"No way" she told him. "No parents, no ex's, no drama" she said, turning the phone off and dropping it behind the sofa. Adam just watched Faye do all of this, not really bothered by what she had done. They had already agreed to the no parent's part, the no ex's part had been an unspoken agreement until now.

They both went back to drinking from their bottles, they may have agreed to the no parents and no ex's thing but they were still both thinking about it and Adam decided that they needed to get it all out. That they should sit, talk and drink. Get it all out and by the morning they would feel better minus the hangover.

"I can't stand this anymore" Adam said, a little louder than he expected. Being used to the quite Faye had jumped when she heard Adam's sudden burst and turned to glare at him, hand over her heart,

"Can't stand what?" She asked a little angry at Adam for scaring her like that,

"The silence" he said almost immediately, "We both have issues we need to talk about, we can't just sit here in silence drinking all night"

"And why not?" Faye asked looking like she might sulk.

"Because it will get us nowhere" he told her, sitting up. "You need to sort out your issues with your mom. And I need to sort out the issues with my dad"

"So what you want to go back?" Faye asked, unsure of where he was going with his little rant.

"No we need to talk" he said and Faye scoffed.

"You should know me better than that" she said. "I do not talk about my feelings, I snap and I bitch and then I feel better." Adam rolled his eyes.

"Did bitching at Cassie help?" he asked giving her that look that told her he knew more than he was letting on.

"How do you know I bitched at Cassie?" she asked and Adam simply shrugged.

"Adam," she said in a warning tone.

"Diana text me and asked me if I knew what was going on" he said "And I didn't tell her anything about what your mom said before you start bitching."

"Fine, so maybe bitching isn't helping as much" she told him before taking another sip of the drink, before she would talk she had to be really drunk.

Knowing that Faye wouldn't start and he would have to he thought through things. He wasn't sure there was much to say that hadn't been said before, his dad was a drunk and they were going to lose the Boathouse if they weren't careful. But maybe there was more to it.

"I think my dad has given up" he started quietly "Given up caring about everything, he doesn't care about how the drink is affecting him, me or the Boathouse. We are barely keeping our heads above the water" he paused as he saw the look Faye was giving him "No pun intended. But seriously, I don't think that we can last much longer, first it'll be the boathouse then it'll be the actual boat."

"Maybe you should let it sink" Faye told him before slapping her hand over her mouth and laughing. "That was so not intentional."

"That was not funny," Adam told her taking another sip of his drink.

"It kinda was," she said. "Anyway, maybe it's time you stop looking after your dad. People have been telling you for years that it was just a phase, but he has been like this for 16 years. It might be time to let go and see if that shocks him back into reality."

"What so you suggest I let the Boathouse and the Boat go because it may snap my dad out of it?" he asked "We would lose everything Faye, we would have nowhere to live and no money coming in."

"See this is why i'm the brains and the beauty" Faye told him "There are ways to save the Boathouse without your dad knowing it is safe, but that will come later. And if you have nowhere to live I can assure you my mom would kick me out to save you" she told him her voice bitter. Adam gave her a disbelieving look.

"Your mom wouldn't throw you out," he said.

"I wouldn't bet on it. She wants Cassie as a daughter and if you were in trouble she would come to your rescue as well and I would be told how well mannered and perfect you and Cassie are" she said, going to take another sip of her drink but realizing it was empty. "I need more alcohol."

Standing up, Faye walked back into the other room to find more bottles, leaving Adam to his thoughts. Seeing that the top section of the cabinet was almost bare, Faye crouched down and opened the doors of the small compartment below. Slipping her hand into the compartment, she felt a bottle.

"Aha," she mumbled before pulling it out, Faye frowned seeing the bottle. It definitely didn't look like alcohol, she slipped her hand back into the cupboard finding nothing else in there.

Pulling her arm back out she sat down so she could look in the cupboard better, she poked her head slightly into the cupboard,

"What are you doing?" Adam asked and Faye pulled her head out from the cupboard to look at him.

"There's something in the side of the cabinet" she told him her voice making it sound like the most obvious thing in the world,

"What do you mean something?" he asked crouching down beside her.

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be sticking my head in a musty old cabinet."

Adam stayed quiet after that and Faye slid her arms back into the cabinet, her fingers were running across the wood when she found a notch. She quickly moved her hand back to the section and fiddled around when she heard a click, she looked over to Adam who now had a curious look on his face then back to the cabinet. Moving her hand around the area she found a compartment that hadn't been there before, opening the compartment she started to pull out the object slowly.

As the object came into the light Faye's jaw dropped open and a second later Adam spoke,

"Is that what I think it is?" he asked as Faye wiped the dust off of the cover and unknotted the leather tie, opening it to the first page. A small family tree was scribbled on the inside cover the last name added was Thomas Chamberlain.

"My family's book" Faye whispered her fingers running over the names on the page. She then looked up at Adam beaming "We found my family book" she said and Adam hugged her standing up and lifting Faye off of the ground. Faye clutched the book in her hand as she hugged Adam back, feeling her feet leave the ground she let out a small laugh.

"Adam, put me down" she told him and felt herself being lowered to the floor. Faye went to pull out from the hug when Adam leant down and kiss her.

Faye responded to the kiss for a second before pulling away from him.

"I need a drink."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Melissa was out of breath by the time she got to the Boathouse. She panted as she looked around and panic when she noticed Diana and Cassie were not there yet, nor was any costumer. She was about to go to the back room when she heard the door behind her open. She turned around hoping to see her friends but instead she saw Mr. Sanders. Her eyes widened and she headed toward the back room door but when she tried to open it, it wouldn't budge. He trapped her here with him!

"Melissa, please calm down, I am not here to hurt you," Mr. Sanders said.

Melissa rolled her eyes. "Yeah right, then why are you trying to expose us? So that this town turns against us and you can get away with murder?"

"You got it backwards," He insisted. "Besides, if I wanted you dead, I would have let Lucas carve your heart out; instead I saved you from certain death."

Melissa sighed when she realized he was right. It didn't make any sense to save her only to kill her. Maybe she should listen to what he has to say. Besides, she is curious as hell.

"Okay, first of all what are you?" She asked.

Mr. Sanders smirked and laughed just a little. "Straight to the point, eh? Well, to answer your question, I am a witch but not your normal kind of witch."

Melissa frowned not understanding what Sanders meant. "What does that mean?"

"It means I am a half witch-half mortal," He replied. "My mother was a witch but my father was mortal."

That shocked Melissa. Every witch she had ever met or heard about had been pureblooded witches. In fact she had never even heard about a witch having a child with a non-witch. She had started to think it was impossible and was starting to worry about Diana and Grants future if it was. Apparently, though, she was wrong. It was possible.

"And that makes you more powerful than a common witch or something?" She asked thinking about the storm he made out of the blue.

Mr. Sanders chuckled. "No, that makes me far weaker than pureblooded witches."

Melissa mind went blank. He just called himself weak? That lightning show has to have been the strongest act of solo magic she had ever seen! He couldn't be weak after doing all of that. Before she could point that out though, her teacher continued.

"I don't know if you are aware of this but every witch and half witch, are always born with a magical core," He began. "That is what makes us different from mortals because even though mortals can use magic with Voodoo and by transference through a Sway the powers doesn't last long because they lack a magical core to store and replenish their magical powers. Imagine a magical core as a bank account. The more money it has, the stronger it will be, economically speaking," He explained. "When you retire a lot of money you are magically exhausted and its harder to make spells but if you get an inheritance from, say, your two parents that were also witches your core is bigger and stronger and so is the bank account. However, when you just have half of the inheritance on your witch side the bank account has less money and such the core is weaker."

Melissa nodded slowly as she processed that. It made sense, but what about that storm. If he didn't have a big magical core then how did he create such a powerful storm? Melissa decided she had to ask. "But if your magical core is weak how is it that you can make such powerful magic?"

"Because of three reasons," Mr. Sanders said, smirking. "The first one is because although you can't see your magical core physically speaking, it is like a muscle in the sense that the more you use it the more it can do because it grows stronger. Most pureblooded witches don't test the limits of their core because they are powerful as it is but in my case I have been experimenting with my magical core my whole life and as a result I am almost as powerful as a pureblooded witch from a weak bloodline."

"The second," He continued, "is because although a magical core helps you channel your power to generate magic, there are many other branches of magic out there that doesn't require a core to fuel the spells and I have taken the liberty to study many of them thoroughly. My personal favorite is Shamanism, the branch of magic designed to channel the external energy of nature around you and when it's then combined with the internal energy of my own core, the results can be quite impressive in terms of raw power.

The idea impressed Melissa. He makes magic seem like a rationalized area of science that you can subdivide in various parts and study to get better at it. The man before her still scared her though. He had given her a magical lesson, but he had not explained what he wanted yet. She still had to be on her guard.

"And the third one?" She asked interested.

Mr. Sanders then open his backpack and grabbed the artifact he had in his hand when the storm was formed.

"What's that?" She asked curiously looking at the object. She wanted to touch it, but anything that came from this man could be dangerous.

"This is a magical artifact that belonged to a very powerful Shaman in the centuries before the British colonized what is today the United States of America," He answered with pride and held the object as though it was his baby. "Gems are good for channeling magic and the symbol of the thunder bird engraved in the talisman as well as the ritual to make the artifact makes it extremely useful when you want to have power over lightning and storms," He explained.

"Anyway," He went on, "a long time ago, when I decided I wanted to expand my knowledge and power about magic, I came up with an idea that will allow me to do that and at the same time have a decent job in the mortal world that would allow me to stay closer to my secret goal. I graduated from Folklore in Duke University and I also graduated in a career of Archeology," He explained. "That granted me several advantages. The first one was a lot of access in Folkloric institutes when I am looking for information about witchcraft. The other one is that as an archeologist, I have access to old ruins and if I find a magical artifact to boost my powers I can get them. In other words, I found a way to have a step in both the supernatural and mortal words and have a nice living at the same time," He explained with a smile clearly happy about what he had done.

"Wow," Melissa muttered shocked at the information she had learned. She had wondered for a while now what will she do when she graduates from High school. Maybe she could ask advice from Mr. Sanders as he seemed to figure it out. She looked at the man and then shook her head. She may be impressed by what she heard, but the man had given her no good reason for why he was in Chance Harbor. He hadn't tell her a good reason as to why he was freaking out the Circle or why he didn't just come out and tell them about him. She couldn't trust him.

"Why didn't you tell us? Why freak us out the way you have?" Melissa asked.

"I'm here for a reason. There is something going on here and I need to figure it out. That is the reason I told no one who I was." Mr. Sanders told Melissa. "As for why was I freaking you out, I guess you could say I am trying to teach you to keep a poker face when someone talks about witches and how to get people off your trail."

Melissa blinked. "That's why you looked proud of Diana when she lied to you about Eva," She pointed out.

Mr. Sanders chuckled. "Yeah, and I have to say it was some nice quick thinking on her part. I won't ask you what really happened between her and your Circle though, as I am not telling you why I am really here but please, keep my secret."

Melissa bit her lip. She doesn't like keeping secrets from her Circle and she didn't trust Mr. Sanders. "I won't tell my Circle you are a half witch. Only because you saved my life. I still don't trust you."

"Understandable," Mr. Sanders said with a smiled. "Can I get a salad?" Melissa gave him a look. "Yeah, on second thought maybe I should go." Mr. Sanders turned around and walked away.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Sitting with her legs crossed and her family book led in her lap, Faye was carefully looking through every detail on each of the pages. Adam was sat beside her, half a bottle of alcohol in his hand as he looked through the details with her.

It wasn't like they hadn't seen family books before both of them had seen Diana's and Cassie's, and Faye had been able to see Jake's. But every family book was different, different spells, different ideas and different attitudes. As they were looking through the book, Faye found some stray pieces of paper and frowned slightly as she saw the handwriting,

"That's my mom's handwriting," she told Adam before taking a sip of her drink, Adam leaned closer to take a look.

"But this is the Chamberlain book, why would your mom have stuff in here?" he asked.

"To keep it hidden I guess," she said. "I mean she trusted my dad and she would have known the book would be passed to me, so why not keep it all in the same place." she said, putting the loose pieces back in the book before turning the page not seeing the folded page in the middle.

For another half an hour or so, Faye and Adam studied her family book and drank. Faye was pretty sure that after this trip they would have to find some way to re-stock the cabinet for any future visits. Faye and Adam had both gone through at least three bottles each and were now trying to do some basic spells.

"Okay, okay, let me try one," Adam said flicking through the pages.

"Magic forces near and far, give me some money in a jar," he said, they were both silent for a few seconds before Faye burst out laughing.

"The book does not say that," she said, looking at the page and pulling a face. "That spell was so lame, I'm bored."

"Then do a spell," Adam said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Fine," She said, flipping through the pages and finding a spell to adapt.

"In this night and in this hour I call upon the ancient power.

Turn my boredom into fun, do it now let it be done"

Again, the two of them stayed quiet for a moment before Adam started laughing and Faye pouted.

"At least my spell wasn't lame," she said. "Give me money in a jar," she imitated and Adam looked at her pretending to be shocked.

"That was bitchy," he said, still pretending to be shocked.

"Oh get over it you baby," Faye said hitting him with a pillow. She then laughed at the look on Adam's face before she saw the evil look in Adam's eyes.

He calmly put down his bottle before moving the book onto the table before he grabbed his own pillow. Faye stood up.

"Now Adam..." she said slowly backing away.

"I was going to be nice because we were celebrating finding your family book" he said also standing up, "But this is war" he said a smile forming on his face as he came towards her.

Adam then tripped on the rug but managed to stay standing, Faye was laughing really hard as Adam tried to compose himself.

"I think someone has had a little too much to drink," she said still laughing slightly "Maybe you should take it easy before you hurt yourself" she added.

"I'm fine, minor setback," he said before moving closer to Faye, who was again backing away a smile still on her face.

"You'd never catch me," Faye told him as she moved around the other sofa, "Not much of a fair match," she added.

"Wanna bet?" Adam asked still moving towards her.

"And what would this bet involve?" she asked.

"How about the winner chooses at the end," he suggested before lunging for Faye who moved out of the way just in time.

"That all you've got?" she asked, backing into the hallway and disappearing.

"Damn it" Adam said moving cautiously out into the hallway and looking around the shadows to see if he could find Faye. He carried on into the dining room which led to the kitchen and looped back to the living room.

When Faye heard Adam walk into one of the chairs in the dining room she had to bit her bottom lip to stop a laugh from escaping, she had hidden around by the stairs where the door to the basement was. Carefully coming out from her hiding place she looked around in both directions before moving back into the living room, once in there she slipped behind the sofa they had been sat on earlier and looked in the direction of the kitchen.

Adam who had heard some movement walked back to the hallway, where Adam was coming from. Careful not to make any noise, Adam crept up to the sofa. Faye had just stood up curiosity getting the better of her and Adam quickly grabbed her, his arm wrapping around her waist. Faye let out a small scream before turning around and hitting Adam with the pillow, he just laughed and kept his hold on her. After a minute Faye stopped hitting Adam with the pillow and quickly leant in and kissed him, Adam froze and Faye slipped out from his arms running back into the hallway.

Adam stood there for a second still in shock before a smile formed on his face and he followed Faye out to the hallway. Again he couldn't see her and knew she had to have a hiding place somewhere out there, he quickly walked into the dining room through the kitchen and around into the living room. Watching he saw Faye come out from the shadows and move over to the dining room entrance to look for him.

Quickly he put the pillow down and again creeped up behind Faye, this time when he grabbed her he lifted her up slightly and laughed as she let out a small squeal and dropped her pillow on the floor. He moved them back to her hiding place as Faye wriggled in his arms trying to get out, once he got to the alcove he put Faye down but stood in the way so she couldn't get out.

"I guess I win," Adam said smiling and Faye rolled her eyes.

"You cheated," she pouted.

"How so?" he asked.

"It was a pillow fight, not put Faye in the corner."

"There were no rules obviously, you were playing dirty," he said and Faye pretended to look shocked.

"I did not, I never play dirty," she said, a smirk on her lips.

"So what was that kiss?" he asked.

"That was tactical" she told him innocently.

"Had it planned all along?" he asked stepping closer to her, as she shrugged.

"Maybe, maybe not," she said before Adam leaned down and kissed her. She quickly responded and her arms wrapped around Adam's neck as Adam's hands settled on her waist.

Faye felt anger in the kiss; the deep, bubbling fury under the surface from how she and Adam were always treated. It wasn't fair, her mother expecting so much of her. It wasn't fair that every thought of her as a heartless bitch and nothing else. It wasn't fair that they couldn't understand that her life was sometimes too painful to bear.

_Trying to be what you want me to be_

_Feeling so faithless, lost under the surface_

_Don't what you're expecting of me_

_Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes_

The alcohol taking over, Adam pressed Faye into the wall and hoisted her up, kissing her fiercely. She wrapped her legs around his waist. It was one of the first things that had felt right in a long time. He was so trapped, cornered by the obligations to take care of his dad. He could still remember talking about college plans with Diana, knowing that he could never have any future because that would mean his dad would lose the Boathouse, and he'd have nowhere to go.

Faye held on tightly to Adam, his shirt bunched up in her fists. She daringly bit down on his lower lip, eyes glinting. God, it was so nice to be able to do something right for once. With her mom nothing was right, and it was the same with the Circle. All she did was blunder around and ruin everything.

_Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow_

_Every step that I take is another mistake to you_

_Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow_

_Every second I waste is more than I can take_

The two made their way out of the living room, slamming into walls and kissing passionately. Adam had his fingers entwined in Faye's hair, and she was gripping his shirt as tightly as she could. They could feel their skin bursting with energy, magic tingling under the surface and heating every moment a thousand times over. It was good to feel something after so long.

_I've become so numb_

_I can't feel you there_

_Become so tired_

_So much more aware_

As they crashed haphazardly up the stairs, Adam smirked. "Bedroom?"

"Hell, yes." Faye replied, recapturing his lips. It was about time.

_I'm becoming this_

_All I want to do_

_Is be more like me _

_And be less like you_

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Ready to work?" Diana asked, throwing an apron from the back room to Cassie. They'd just gotten to the Boathouse and Melissa had left a note, saying she would be back soon.

Cassie groaned. "I got fired from my last job, remember? Who says I'll be any better at this one?"

"You will, I promise. Just flirt with the customers and then they won't mind if you mess up their orders." Diana advised.

"Sure, that'll work." Cassie said. "Hey, where do you think Melissa went?"

Diana shrugged. "The note said she would be back soon, but that's all. Maybe Mr. Sanders showed up so she ran off or something."

"Probably. He's such a creeper." Cassie said, distractedly rifling through things on the counter for a notepad to write orders on.

"And because of you and your box set of Heroes I now see him as a serial killer." Diana said. Cassie laughed. "Thanks for that. I think a terrified expression is going to draw more attention than laughing."

"In what way? Laughing is louder… and a little meaner, since you'd be laughing at his ears."

"But he'd think I knew something about his sketchy life if I looked scared." Diana pointed out.

Just then Melissa ran over to them, panting. "Sorry, guys, we ran out of ketchup." To prove her point, she dumped an armful on the counter. "Mr. Conant hasn't ordered any in a while, apparently."

"You didn't miss much." said Cassie. 'We were just talking about Mr. Sanders."

Melissa stiffened. "Actually, I've been meaning to talk to you guys about him. I think we should try to break into his office and see if he has suspicious stuff in there."

"You really think that's a good idea?" Diana asked.

"Yeah, for all we know he keeps bodies in there." Cassie added.

"Bodies with their heads cut off and their brains gone!" Diana said dramatically, gasping.

Melissa said, "Ummm… okay?"

"I made her watch Heroes, and this guy in it who is a serial killer looks like Mr. Sanders." Cassie explained. "Still, it could be dangerous to break into his office. Are you really sure that we should?"

"I want answers." Melissa said. "I intend to get them, but I really don't want to go alone. Especially not after that comment about heads being cut off."

Diana shrugged, glancing at Cassie. "Who knows? It could be fun. Well, fun in a very illegal way…"

"Okay." Cassie said. She reached behind her back to tie her apron on. "What could possibly happen?"

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Lucas and Ryder came marching through the woods and into a clearing, Claire and Dylan following behind. They approached an abandoned house, it looked like no one had lived in for years.

"This is it!" exclaimed Lucas "This is where the book is" he told everyone a massive grin spreading on his face. He ran forward and up the stairs heading for the front door.

"Wait!" Claire shouted Lucas stopped just before he opened the door.

"Don't go in there" Claire told him.

"What?" Lucas asked annoyed "The book's in there."

"I'm getting a really bad feeling," Claire admitted queasily, "I don't think any of us should go in there."

"What sort of feeling?" Ryder asked suspicious that Claire was just trying to stop them getting Blackwell's book of shadows.

"Bad magic, I can feel evil magic" Claire admitted, looking scared. "It feels like really strange magic, I think something really bad is going to happen if someone goes in there," She told them truthfully.

Ryder nodded; he could tell she wasn't lying. He turned and looked at Lucas waiting to see what he did. Lucas stood and thought for a minute before turning round and walking back down the stairs, he looked back at the house curiously.

"I can't feel anything." He said.

"Well you wouldn't would you," Dylan told him, "you know Claire is the only one with the ability to sense things like that."

Lucas nodded before turning round and staring meanly into Claire's eyes.

"You are telling me the truth aren't you?" He demanded, still staring at her. Claire nodded her head shakily, looking petrified of what her brother might do if he thought she was lying.

"Fine, let's go then," Lucas ordered, "No point wasting time, we will have to find another way to get this book, at least we know where it is. I'll find a spell which will either help get rid of this so called dark magic or that will give us the exact location of the book, I want this book and I will get it. I'm not going to be scared by some dark magic, we'll find another way to get Blackwell's book of shadows." Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Right well let's go back to the car and get back to the hotel then," Ryder suggested, all four of them started to walk back to where Lucas had parked the car.

"When we get back I want you to start researching how we're going to get past this and get the book Dylan."

"Bu-"Dylan started before he was interrupted by Lucas.

"No but's, you'll do as I told you too, now hurry up we need to get back to the hotel and work out what we're going to do next," Lucas replied angrily starting to walk faster, Ryder sped up to leaving Claire and Dylan trailing behind, doubting what their brothers were doing.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"I'm starting to think that this is a really dumb idea." Cassie whispered to Diana as they crept towards the door of Mr. Sander's office. "I'm getting a creepy vibe from standing near this room, let alone being in it."

"Shhhhhh!" Melissa hissed. "The janitor might still be here."

It was pitch black outside, nearly past ten o'clock. As it had gotten darker Cassie had become more and more hesitant to carry through with breaking in. As far as she was concerned everything bad that had ever happened had been at night, and sometimes it was in the school. Right now it was reminding her of prom.

Slowly they edged towards the door and until they were sure Mr. Sanders wasn't there. Melissa said, "Lock unlock?"

The other two nodded.

"Lock, unlock."

Nothing.

Letting out a frustrated huff, Cassie said, "Lock unlock!" more forcefully, tempted to use dark magic. "Lock. Unlock."

"Lock unlock!" Melissa tried.

Diana joined in with a hesitant, "Lock unlock…?"

"Lock unlock, dammit!" Cassie shouted at the door. "Well, this clearly isn't going to work. Why won't it unlock?"

"Maybe he safeguarded it." Melissa suggested. "I mean, he did know a lot about us, so maybe he knows how to block our power."

"Of course he does." Diana said, she was fed up of everyone seeming to have the upper hand over them.

Cassie rose from her crouching position by the door and peered in. "What's all that stuff?"

"Witch-related junk?" Melissa guessed. "There's that paper with your family tree… I swear, he's like one of those child molesters that looks people up online and stalks them."

"Thanks for that, I feel so safe." Cassie teased.

Diana was looking into the room as well. "Is that the sway he had the first day of class? Maybe he's actually using it for something… like getting magic. Maybe that's his plan."

"There has to be a way to get in there," Cassie said try the door again, but nothing happened. "You know I had a friend back in Los Angeles, well not really a friend but we talked sometimes since we were both sort of the losers of the school..."

"Cassie, does this story have a point?" Melissa asked.

"Yes actually it does. Our principal was a really big ass and took his cell away from him for no reason, so he decided to get revenge. The principal also had his office really locked, like impossible to get into, but one day he asked me to be lookout for him while he broke into the principal office. For some reason I agreed since I had nothing better to do and I watched him pick the lock."

"Interesting, but your point is?" Melissa asked.

"I think I get it," Diana said with a smile. "Since we can't break into his office the magical way, maybe we could do it the human way. That's what you were saying right?"

"Yeah," Cassie answered.

"Okay no way Diana actually got that. You told her with your mental link to make her look smarter than me." Melissa said looking at the two.

"Well maybe I got more of a feeling for what Cassie meant then you because of our link. It is a good point though. Cassie, can you do?" Diana turned to the blonde witch who gave them a look.

"Were you not listening to my story? I was the lookout. I'll contact Rob and ask him how he did it. We can come back here another day." Cassie said and then thought to Diana and make sure to see all of Mr. Sanders headless bodies. I wonder if he has Claire in there.

"Not funny Cassie," Diana said out loud causing Melissa to look at her, "Don't ask."

The two sisters started to walk towards the exit. "Hey Cassie," Melissa said causing the two to stop and look at her. "How does that story end? Did your friend get his revenge and get away with it?"

"Yes and no. He got his revenge, but we ended up both getting detention." Cassie told Melissa.

"Thanks that makes me feel really good." Melissa said and rolled her eyes.

Cassie laughed. "Hey this was your idea in this first place."

"Starting to wish it wasn't." Melissa said and then the three walked away from the office.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Claire and Dylan sat quietly as Ryder and Lucas chanted over a bowl of herbs and other magical artefacts. Since the first time had been a bust, they'd come back to try the spell again.

Claire watched as slowly a spot on the old map they had lit up. "Is… is that the old, creepy house we were near?" she asked hesitantly.

Lucas frowned. "Yes." Suddenly his face lit up with anger. "You're so stupid! You probably felt the energy from the book, and you were too dumb to realize what it was!"

Claire recoiled, wordlessly shaking her head.

"Maybe the house has something magical about it." Dylan quickly suggested. He carefully pulled his laptop over to where everyone was sitting. "Here, I'll search for it."

Everyone was silent as Dylan typed rapidly, occasionally clicking on something when he thought he'd found a connection to the house. Lucas was glowering at Claire, who inched closer to Dylan. Ryder was uninterested.

"Look, I found something." Dylan said. "According to this, it's the house where John Blackwell lived."

"See? I just felt his presence." Claire said defensively.

"It makes sense that he would hide it there. Did he live there while he was in town?" Ryder asked.

Dylan scrolled down the page he was on. "No, I don't think so. It's been abandoned for years and years, ever since he was presumed dead."

"So the book is still hidden from the Circle."

Ryder nodded. "They couldn't have possibly found it."

"That settles it." Lucas said. "Tomorrow we'll go there and search the house. Ryder and I will look inside while you two keep the Circle occupied. That, or at least keep watch outside in case they show up there."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Adam was already falling asleep at her side, but Faye couldn't quite shake the feeling that she was missing something. They hadn't read through the Book of Shadows much… and though she was expecting waves of regret for what had happened instead, Faye felt nothing. In fact, there was a warm feeling in her stomach, something that made sense. For once her life made a little bit of sense. Deciding to add more sense to it, she rolled over on the guest bed and grabbed the Book of Shadows, flipping through it quietly in hopes she could quiet the restless thoughts in her mind. Her bare skin froze at it came into contact with the air, and she pulled the sheets back over her body.

Suddenly a loose piece of paper fell out; Faye instantly recognized her mother's looping cursive. The top read, "To reveal hidden truth" and next to the spell she saw a sketch of the skull. Quickly scanning the spell's lines made it obvious that it was for finding what the skull truly wanted. "Adam!"

"What?" He mumbled groggily. He was sure that she was about to freak out and tell him that nothing ever happened.

She shoved the paper in front of him. "Look! Look at what I found!"

"What?" he took the paper and quickly scanned it. "Is this what I think it is…?"

"Yeah, it is."

In minutes they were both up, pulling on whatever clothes they could find, racing to get to the car.

_Won't you come out?_

_We could paint the town red_

_Kill a little time_

_You can sleep when you're dead_

Adam could feel his heart pounding. He was still as afraid of the skull as he'd ever been, but he desperately wanted to know what it was trying to get him to do. He just wanted it away from him, so it couldn't keep worming its way into his head and trying to take him over.

_'Cause it isn't over yet_

_Get it out of your head_

Faye felt empowered. Finally, they would figure out what the skull wanted. Finally, her life was regaining order. She was regaining control. She was also certain that what had happened with Adam hadn't been the wrong choice. Together they were both going to be able to fix their lives. She hoped that maybe she could become who she'd been before everything had happened; Chance Harbour's resident bad girl and badass. It would be so much easier to get over Jake if she could act like she didn't care, like she was aloof and detached. It was like bargaining with fire, but she wanted it.

_Chase a few hearts_

_We could leave 'em in shreds_

_Meet me in the gutter_

_Make the devil your friend_

"When we do this spell, we're only doing it to see what the skull wants." Adam warned her. "We're not going to do what it wants if it's dangerous."

"Sure, of course not." Faye said lightly. "But if it wants something bad, can we still get power from it?"

"It's dangerous." Adam repeated harshly.

_Just remember what I said_

_'Cause it isn't over yet_

"You trust me, don't you?" Faye asked. "I can promise you I'll find a safe way to get power from it, okay?"

He was obviously reluctant, but nodded begrudgingly.

"Good." She smirked. "We'll finally show them that we're not worthless, and we're not to be brushed aside. Maybe I can even raise my grades…"

Still, the thought was empty and cold. Faye knew, just like Adam did, that if the skull had that much power there was a good chance that no one in the Circle would want to speak to them, especially if they found out where the power came from. They would be alone.

Of course, it wasn't so different from what they had now.

_Say you have a little faith in me_

_Just close your eyes and let me lead_

_Follow me home_

_To where the lonely ones roam_

**Anonymous review replies:**

**Chapter 1:**

**SkySamuelle: thank you, we're glad that you like how the characters interacted and that we're following the S2 storylines. Dawn was a crappy parent, but we're hoping to involve her in her children's lives—both real and the one she's legal guardian of :)**

**Amy: Thank you! Glad you like it**

**Elen De Smet: Thank you!**

**Lucia: Thanks!**

**Adelkis Garcia: I know Cassie seems depressed but to be fair, she lost her mother, her father, and her sister. Basically she's an orphan with powers that make her evil, and not once during the entire show did she break down. We figured that it would have to get to her eventually. Also, I know the show was about a love triangle, but we want to focus on other characters as well, like Melissa. She didn't have much of a storyline before, so we're trying to give her one.**

**BaconLuvva: Ummm.. thank you. We really love your reviews, they're so entertaining :)**

**Luz: I'm glad you like it :) the glove idea is so cool!**

**Rachel: We update every Thursday**

**a: thank you!**

**Chapter 2:**

**Ellen: Thank you :)**

**lily: Thank you so much, your review was so nice! I'm so happy that you like how we're writing this, we do try our best :)**

**Kiley: Thank you! Of course we'll keep going, we've got enough planned for 22 episodes/chapters**

**BaconLuvva: Ummmm... once again, thank you. Yes, there was a lot of crying.**

**Chapter 3:**

**lily: I'm glad you liked the cliffhanger. Yeah, the sister relationship is definitely fun to write, and it's a good change from the love triangle. That's great that you think it's in character, we try so hard to stay true to the show!**

**BaconLuvva: Yay, vials are fun :)**

**Chapter 4:**

**Luz: I'm glad you like the new teacher, a lot of other people seemed to like him too, so that's a good sign. Relations with Grant? Hmmmm... maybe.**

**Stephanie: We try to keep to character as much as possible, so we're sorry if you think they act like the characters in the book. Hopefully we'll get better at keeping everyone in character with time.**

**Chapter 5 (there were lot of people who left "Guest" as there name for this ch):**

**Guest: Yeah, there are a few typos, but we're glad you like it despite that.**

**Guest: I believe Diana and Cassie talked it out in chapter 6, if you haven't read that yet.**

**Guest; thanks!**

**Guest: thank you!**

**Guest: We're still unsure as to which romance will flourish and which won't, but there's a good chance there will be some Cassie/Adam action. **

**Chapter 6:**

**Guest; I'm glad you liked the cliffhanger :)**

**Guest: I can't telly you anything about Sanders yet, aside from what you already know. As for Grant... he's going to come back, just not this season. Yeah, the skull Adam has is the one that was Blackwell's, so I guess it could have belonged to Francis Balcoin.**

**PurpleDot1148: Thank you, glad you liked it!**

**Guest: So happy to hear that you like it :)**

**Olivia: Glad to hear you like all the new characters :) yeah, Faye can be bitchy, but who says that can't change?**

**Chapter 7:**

**BaconLuvva: Love the enthusiasm :) that's cool that you know the bacon song. Meekakitty is amazing.**

**ReaderGirls98: Thank you!**

**Guest: Well, maybe Cassie likes Jake... you never know. Yeah, Faye and Adam are developing a good friendship, aren't they? Glad you liked the Faye/Diana scene :)**

**lily: Oh, I'm sorry you didn't like the breakup :( still, Cassie reacted that way because she does still have some feelings for him. But you never know, they could always get back together. Glad you liked the breakup comforting, though :)**

**Marta: We'll try our best, but we already have a pre-planned outline for the season that we can't change much.**

**Note: As mentioned before, we have an outline for the entire season, and we can't change too much stuff. We're sorry about not being able to satisfy everyone, since we can't have Cassie with both Adam and Jake at the same time, or Faye and Cassie both with Jake, etc. However, we're trying our best to have a little of every pairing that was in the show or that you gusy seem to prefer.**

**Again, please feel free to go on tumblr and twitter as well, and ask us anything that you want to know, or leave suggestions. We also take prompts for oneshots, if anyone wants to request a Fayan fic (or any other couple) or has a general idea that they just can't put into words.**

**Thank you so much for all the support you've shown, we really appreciate it.**


	9. Relations

**Plotline writers – Forcystus5, xleamalfoyx, Coralinas, thefallenloveoflife, flower gettin' lady**

**Writers – Coralinas, Forcystus5, CharmedMilliE, ilove2dance, luisa Mendoza, thefallenloveoflife, witch-witha-B, TtylerMaria**

**Editors – flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B, Your Sister. Duh**

**Graphic Designers – xleamalfoyx, Charlene F.**

**Twitter Account – ImaGleekBaby, **

**Tumblr Account – witch-witha-B,**

**The twitter account is TSC_Project and the tumblr account is The Secret Circle Project. We also have a facebook page, you can find it by searching The Secret Circle Project.**

**Disclaimer: We don't own The Secret Circle**

**A/N: At the end of this chapter we've taken the time to answer reviews from anons, and we encourage everyone to get an account on so we can send you PMs in reply to reviews. We love feedback and criticism, so please keep the reviews coming!**

Episode 9 – "Relations"

Faye groaned as she led down on the beach.

"This is so frustrating." She said before giving a small huff and staring at the sky. "We have been trying this spell all weekend, how is it not working? It should work."

Adam let out a small sigh as he looked over to Faye.

"Maybe it is working," he said. "I mean we know that the skull is showing us the Balcoin symbol in the abandoned house."

"Yeah but we should know more by now," she told him. "We worked out the Balcoin symbol Friday night."

"Saturday morning," Adam corrected, earning a glare from Faye.

"Fine, we found out about the symbol over a day ago. We still kept working on it so we should know more."

"Maybe we don't need to know more," he said, shrugging.

"Seriously?" She asked, sitting up. "All we are supposed to know is that it has something to do with the symbol. That could mean anything, that symbol is linked to the house, Blackwell, all six of his kids, the skull and god knows what else. We need more information."

Adam sighed and ran his hands over his face, he didn't know what to say. They had been working on the spell from the book all weekend, they had cut their weekend away short just to sit on one of the beaches in Chance Harbour and do spells on the skull.

"Maybe we should do some research and try again another time. We may just need time, or sleep or we may need more power."

"Okay you say maybe one more time and the skull will be the least of your worries" She said before looking at the skull thoughtfully. "If we need more power, then we should get it from the skull. That's the only place we can get it."

"Getting power from the skull isn't safe Faye."

"We've done it before."

"No Faye, I've done it before and after I did it got into my head and I hurt you," he said quietly.

"And then you healed me," she said before shrugging. "Anyway this time is different," she said, getting a disbelieving look from Adam. "The skull took over and hurt me because it didn't want me to know anything, now I know so there is nothing to worry about."

"We are not doing it," Adam said simply, looking out at the sunrise. "We have school in a few hours."

As soon as he finished his sentence Faye groaned again.

"But I'm tired, can't we just go back to yours and sleep?" she asked and Adam chuckled.

"Whatever you are thinking about does not involve sleep."

"It does at some point," she told him and he shook his head.

"Look we have to go to school, we have to give in our group essay and you don't really want to give your mom another reason to yell at you, do you?"

"I hate your logical thinking," Faye grumbled as Adam stood up.

"So are you coming?" he asked and she simply shrugged.

"What's in it for me?" she asked grabbing her book and standing up.

"Breakfast, a ride to school, a ride home..." he said as he wrapped his arms around Faye's waist and pulled her to him before he gave her a lingering kiss. "And more of that," he said causing Faye to smirk,

"Someone is getting a little ahead of themselves," she said.

"Right, so I'm guessing what happens at the lake house stays at the lake house?" he asked and Faye laughed before moving out of his grasp.

"No, I'm just saying I might have a ride home already," she told him backing away to the car.

"Faye, where are you going?" he asked.

"If we want to get to school on time then we better get going, I want a shower and i'm pretty sure you promised me breakfast," she told him.

Adam rolled his eyes as he followed Faye back towards his truck, he wanted to ask so many questions that had been constantly buzzing around his head since Friday night. But this was Faye, she didn't talk about her feelings and Adam didn't want to push her. He really wanted to see where this was going, he had the feeling that Faye was going to be good for him. They're honest with each other, when he speaks to Faye about his dad she doesn't look at him like the others do. She doesn't beat around the bush and is completely honest with what she is thinking. He also felt like he could mess around and have a laugh with Faye, they were all used to Faye's comments and constant banter but she was different with him and he believed it was what he needed right now.

Adam quickly slipped into the truck and turned on the engine.

"So did you want breakfast first or shall I drop you home to have a shower?" he asked, looking over to her seeing her raised eyebrow, "What?" he asked.

"By the time you drop me home, I shower and get ready we won't have time for breakfast," she said. "but then if we go for breakfast and you plan on dropping me home to shower, we'll be late for school," she told him.

"Okay what do you suggest?" Adam asked.

"I was just going to shower and get ready at yours," she said. Adam opened his mouth to speak, but Faye beat him to it. "that way we have time to do breakfast and showers, and I have all the stuff I need in the back anyway."

"Now who's getting ahead of themselves?" he asked driving out of the parking space. "And my dad might be home still." he said, not really wanting Faye to run into his drunk dad.

"Your dad should be opening the Boathouse," she told him. "We can even drive past to check he is there first," she suggested, knowing how he didn't like people seeing his dad when he was drunk.

It was nice for Faye to know he would care about something that small, they had all seen Adam's dad drunk at some point so it would be nothing new. Although it would have been weird to bump into Adam's dad when she got out of the shower.

They got to the Boathouse quickly and saw it was ready and open for business.

"Back to mine?" Adam asked getting a nod from Faye.

"Yeah, quick shower and change then breakfast," she agreed as Adam started driving again. "And you never know, we could end up saving water by showering together."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Diana and Cassie were leaning against Diana's locker at school engrossed in a conversation when Faye came wondering over, her trademark smirk on her face.

"Hey," Diana greeted when Faye joined them. "How was your weekend?" she wondered.

"Great," replied Faye smirking. "Adam and I had lots of fun," She told them suggestively.

"What did you get up to?" Cassie asked a bit wary of the answer.

"Umm... quite a bit. We drank our troubles away and got up to lots of mischief." Faye told them huskily.

"Mischief," Diana asked, intrigued. "Tell us more," she told Faye laughing.

"Oh I can't, what happened at the lakehouse stays at the lakehouse." Faye said, enjoying winding Cassie and Diana up.

"Ahh Come on," pleaded Cassie."It can't be that bad," she told Faye smirking.

"Oh believe me it is." Faye assured her, laughing.

"You sure Adam enjoyed this weekend as much as you did? It was probably torture for him having only you as company," Diana teased.

"Hardly," muttered Faye, "I treated him very well."

"Speak of the devil," muttered Cassie, glancing down the corridor, where Adam had just appeared.

He started walking down the corridor, looking round. When he spotted Cassie, Faye and Diana he started walking towards them, a smile appearing his face. Faye quickly smiled back at him.

"Morning," He greeted Diana and Cassie before turning to face Faye. "Faye," he smiled warmly at her before leaning down and kissing her on the cheek.

Cassie and Diana stared on incredibly shocked at how Adam greeted Faye. Diana had to nudge Cassie in the ribs to stop her from staring at the two of them.

"Did you two have a good weekend?" Adam asked trying to be polite.

"Yeah it was fine, nothing major happened at the Boathouse. It survived being left in our care." Diana told him cheekily whilst waiting for Cassie to recover from the shock she felt when she saw Adam kiss Faye; it hurt Cassie a lot to see that.

"Did you enjoy your weekend?" Cassie asked deciding she needed to say something before it became awkward.

"Yes, it was great," Adam said smirking, looking sideways towards Faye.

"Do you want me to walk you to class?" Adam asked Faye.

"Yeah sure," Faye answered.

"See you later," they said to Cassie and Diana before walking away. Diana and Cassie stared as the two of them walked away holding hands.

"What the hell just happened?" Diana asked turning to face a shocked Cassie, who was staring at the backs of Faye and Adam as they walked off; she was completely lost for words about what had just happened.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Once they had finished talking to Cassie and Diana, Faye and Adam had walked off hand in hand down the corridor. They had planned on heading straight to class but when Faye saw Melissa standing at her locker, she dragged Adam over to her.

"Hey Melissa," She said happily.

Melissa turned to see the two and smiled. "Hey guys, did you have a good weekend?" she asked.

"It was better than good," Faye said a small smirk forming on her face.

"Yeah Melissa, thanks for taking over at the Boathouse," Adam said and Melissa smiled.

"It was fun and you know we would always help, all you have to do is ask," she told him then Faye turned to Adam.

"Anyway this is girl time, wait by my locker?" she asked and Adam rolled his eyes.

"Fine, but hurry up or we'll be late," he told her, giving her another quick kiss on the cheek before heading off to her locker. Melissa raised an eyebrow when she saw Adam kiss Faye on the cheek, as soon as Adam was out of earshot she spoke.

"What was that all about?" she asked.

"What was all of what about?" Faye asked an innocent look on her face.

"Adam," she said. "Adam and you, it's like you've got him wrapped around your finger."

"Maybe I have," Faye said a smirk on her face.

"So what happened at the Lake house?" Melissa asked.

"A lot," Faye said and Melissa rolled her eyes.

"Faye, come on," Melissa said.

"Maybe I want to keep it as a secret,." Faye told her, then sighed as Melissa gave her that look. "Let's just say magic was made and sparks flew."

Melissa stood there in shock for a second, trying to absorb the information. She felt betrayed, Melissa knew she hadn't told anyone about her feelings for Adam but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

"So you and Adam...?" Melissa asked and Faye simply nodded.

"Yep," Faye told her, sounding very pleased with herself. "Anyway I got to go, see you in class," she told Melissa before heading over to her locker to meet Adam. As soon as she got to her locker he wrapped an arm around her waist and they headed off to class. Melissa watched them go still in shock that this has happened.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"So you actually finished your two paragraphs for the paper?" Diana asked Faye.

As soon as they had gotten into the class Mr Sanders had told them to get into their groups to make sure the essays were complete, if not they had time to edit any mistakes or in some cases actually write their essays.

"Yes actually," Faye said. "Didn't think I would let you guys down did you Diana?" she asked as Diana took the paper and started reading through the paragraphs that Faye had added. As Diana read through the paper Adam leaned over and started whispering in Faye's ear.

Diana looked up just to see Adam leaning back and the uncomfortable looks on Cassie and Melissa's faces.

"This is actually really good," Diana told Faye, pretending she hadn't just seen what she had, she then saw Cassie slide the paper over the desk and hold it up in front of her face. Diana turned back to Faye and Adam to see Adam again whispering something in Faye's ear.

"Are you sure you wrote that Faye?" Diana asked a stern tone in her voice, Faye looked over to Diana looking offended.

"So now because I'm good at something you assume I cheated?" Faye asked putting a hand over her heart. "That hurts Diana, it really does."

"Five minutes everyone," Mr Sanders yelled over the chatter in the class, most people could be seen with their heads low writing impossibly quick to finish their essay. While a few others including the Circle were just sat around relaxing, having finished their essays.

"It sounds like it is written by Faye," Melissa said, who at some point had taken the essay from Cassie. "I mean who else would write all about not having individual magic and having to rely on the others in your Circle to help you open your locker."

"Course she would say that," Cassie said speaking for the first time since they all sat down. "It's Faye, she's reckless. No one should be surprised she wrote something like that."

Faye simply rolled her eyes as she heard this and everyone else stayed quiet, they knew that Faye and Cassie were about to start and none of them wanted to be involved in that.

"Okay then Princess perfect, change it," Faye said. "Find a way to explain how being bound together sucked because none of us had individual magic." she paused. "Oh wait, you wouldn't know about that because you're the princess of Darkness with her own powers that she used to strangle people. Have fun explaining that one."

"God, Faye I have had enough of your cr-"

"If you five are done leave the essay on the table and head to the library" Mr Sanders said as he walked by.

Obviously the five minutes were over, Melissa made sure that all of their names were written at the end of the essay as Cassie stormed out followed by Diana, and Adam and Faye walked out Adam's arm again around Faye's waist. Melissa let a large sigh escape her lips as she stood up grabbing her things and making her way to the library alone. Halfway to the library Melissa saw Adam and Faye messing around in the hallway, she let out a small sigh before walking past them and carried on her way to the library, trying not to think about how she wished she could have a relationship like that.

Faye laughed as Adam wrapped both arms around her from behind and started kissing her shoulder, they were supposed to be heading straight to the library for the rest of their lesson with Mr Sanders but this was so much more fun. She turned around in Adam's arms and the two started kissing.

After a while the two heard coughing and pulled apart, at some point Faye had ended up with her back pressed against a locker. They saw Mr Sander stood looking at them waiting for someone to say something,

"Librar.y" Mr. Sanders said simply and waited for the two to move.

Adam kept one of his arms around Faye's waist as they headed to the library, none of them trusted him and Adam didn't like the idea of him walking behind the two of them through the empty halls.

As soon as they got into the library they went to sit with the rest of the Circle, as Mr Sander's started going through the subject they would be basing their next essays on.

"What took you so long?" Diana asked, she didn't want to know the details but the way Mr Sanders had walked in right behind them she hadn't liked the look of.

"Run in with the creeper," Faye told her quietly as Mr Sanders looked their way.

"What did he say?" Diana asked in a whisper trying to talk without attracting his attention.

"He basically told us to come here, but it wasn't what he said. It was the way he looked at us," Adam told Diana quickly and quietly.

"What were you doing anyway?" Diana asked quietly as Mr Sanders was asking Sally a question.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Faye said quietly a small smirk on her lips, Diana rolled her eyes and noticed Adam's hand resting on Faye's leg. _'Eww,'_ she thought as an image of Adam and Faye together popping into her head.

Cassie whipped her head around to look at Diana _'Thanks for sharing that image' _Cassie thought back _'I really wanted to have that etched into my brain'_

Diana let out a small sigh. "Sorry," she whispered to Cassie, getting Melissa's attention. Melissa looked over to Diana but the first thing she saw was Adam leaning in to kiss Faye. Melissa quickly looked away, she hoped that they wouldn't be like this every lesson, they had only just started the day and Melissa was sick of it. She could tell it was getting to Cassie as well and she thought that it was starting to get on Diana's nerves because they were in school and it was upsetting Cassie.

Melissa, Cassie and Diana all turned to Mr Sanders as he was speaking about the new topic, asking questions of each group to see what they were planning to do next. Luckily he hadn't got around to looking at the Circle and asking them what they were doing as Faye and Adam obviously weren't paying attention to the class and were now alternating between whispering and kissing.

When Mr Sanders finally got around to the Circle, the first thing he saw was Adam and Faye kissing and whispering to each other. As far as he had known Faye and Adam were not two of the closest in the group but now it seemed like they were dating, to the discomfort of their friends.

"Mr Conant, Miss Chamberlain could you please refrain from your extra-curricular activities during my class," Mr Sanders said loudly, the whole class minus the rest of the Circle turned to look at Faye and Adam, who had just pulled away from each other and looked slightly out of sorts.

"So would one of you like to tell me the subject of your next essay?" Mr Sanders asked still looking at Faye and Adam.

"Uhh..." Adam said quietly as Faye looked at Diana who shook her head.

"The Salem Witch trials," Faye said confidently, she quickly got glares from everyone including Adam.

"Very good, I can't wait to see what you write," Mr Sanders replied, before moving onto the next group.

"Creeper," Faye muttered before Diana turned to her.

"Again Faye?" Diana said, did Faye not learn from last time.

"What?" Faye said "Look we all know that at some point during or after the witch trials our families split with the other Circles. We're always in the dark about these things until they come and bite us in the butt," she said. "Maybe this time we should do the research before we need to." The bell then rang and Adam and Faye headed out of the class quickly hand in hand.

"Well that was the most awkward hour of my life," Diana said looking over to Cassie and Melissa, Melissa was stood up with her back to Cassie and Diana. She looked like she was packing her things away.

In reality Melissa was just moving things around in her bag and trying to compose herself before she faced anyone. Faye and Adam were together, this wasn't one of Faye's games to make Jake jealous. Some small part of Melissa had hoped it was all an act to make Jake jealous and want her back but after the way that had acted in the lesson, Melissa was sure that they were together and it honestly broke her heart.

Taking a deep breath, Melissa placed her bag on her shoulder.

"I'll see you guys later," she said before hastily leaving the library.

Diana instantly felt bad for Melissa, she had been told that Melissa and Adam had gotten close over the summer and that they were always hanging out. Before she left she had thought that something may happen between the two, but now Faye and Adam's whirlwind relationship had turned everything upside down.

As these thoughts about Melissa flew around Diana's head she hadn't even realised that Cassie was also hurting and she could hear all of Diana's thoughts. _'It's nice to know you think of me at a time like this'_ Cassie thought sarcastically not really caring if Diana heard her or not.

Diana had started packing up her things when she heard Cassie's thoughts, _'Okay what is wrong with you today?'_ Diana thought, she felt a little bad but Cassie had been off with everyone today.

Cassie just rolled her eyes _'Nothing'_ she thought not wanting to go into the reasons with Diana, she had dealt with her issues and she had kept it a secret long enough. It had just been brought up again because Adam had slept with Faye, he was lucky the elixir had worked on him and he could move on with his life. Cassie wasn't so lucky, she still loved Adam.

'_Wait, what was that?'_ Diana asked looking at Cassie in shock, _'did you just think what I thought you did?' _

'_It was nothing' _Cassie thought as she got her bag and headed out of the library, she really didn't want to talk not even to Diana.

'_We really should talk about this'_ Diana told her and Cassie sighed,

'_What If I don't want to talk?'_ Cassie told her through the link before leaving the class.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Here it is." Lucas said, stopping outside the abandoned house. "Claire, do you still feel what you felt last time we were here?"

Claire nodded. "I really don't think you should be going in there. I know that it's just _his _presence, or the book, but…" she trailed off ominously, scared of the threatening expression on Ryder's face.

"Look, you two just stay out here." Ryder instructed once they had reached the front door. "It might take us a while to find where the book is hidden, and longer to do the spell. If any of the Circle show up…. Oh, I don't know. Kill them or something."

"I'm not going to kill anyone!" Dylan snapped. "We'll just distract them by asking if they want to go somewhere with us."

"That would work?" Lucas looked incredulous.

"Yes, it would." Dylan said.

Lucas and Ryder both glared at their younger half-siblings for a moment more before they disappeared into the house. Once they seemed to be out of earshot Claire leaned over to Dylan. "How are we going to keep them from going in? I don't think that they'd just change their plans to go somewhere with us."

"We could do a spell." Dylan said after a moment. "Maybe we could trick them into just leaving, or we could make them forget why they'd come here in the first place."

Claire sighed, shifting restlessly. "I have a feeling that this isn't going to go well."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie and Diana arrived at home and before Diana could say anything Cassie said "You want to watch more _Heroes_?"

"Cassie..." Diana started, but Cassie kept on talking as though she didn't hear Diana.

"I know the Mr. Sanders look-a-like freaks you out in this one, but we didn't even finish season one this weekend." Cassie was holding the season one in her hands. "It would be just wrong for you not to see all of season one. It was the best season. Although I did like season three and four. Season two was just horrible..."

"Cassie, I don't care about _Heroes_ right now," Diana yelled, taking the season one DVDs and throwing them in front of the door.

"If any of those broke you owe me a new season one," Cassie said, pointing at them.

"Cassie I want to talk about what I heard in class today," Diana said.

"We heard a lot of thing in class today..." Diana could see Cassie was going to start another rant. She was probably doing this to avoid Diana's question and Diana was not going to let that happen.

"Then let me make it clear to you what I want to talk about. Through our link I heard you say you still loved Adam." Cassie didn't say anything and turned around so she wasn't looking Diana in the eyes. "Cassie. Talk to me." Cassie once again didn't say anything. "Okay, I'll talk. I was confused when I heard that you loved Adam because you took an Elixir to get rid of your love for Adam. How can you love someone you magically stop yourself from loving. It makes no..."

"IT DIDN'T WORK," Cassie finally yelled, not being able to take it anymore. She turned around to look at her sister and Diana could see tears start to come to her eyes. "It didn't work. At least it didn't work on me."

Diana could see the heartbreak in Cassie's eyes and didn't know what to say. All she did was bring her sister into a hug. "You know you leaving, my mom, my grandma, and even John Blackwell were big factors in my depression, but so was Adam. I loved him so much and he loved me, but he didn't feel that way anymore and I still did."

"Cassie, it's going to be okay," Diana said not really sure if it would be. She just didn't know what else to say.

Cassie backed away from her sister and sat down on the couch. "I know it's stupid considering we are cursed and everything, but I kind of always hoped he still loved me somehow. That deep down he still had the feelings, but since he's sleeping with Faye I know it's over. It's so obvious he has no feelings for me anymore."

Diana sat next to Cassie and put her hand on Cassie's leg. "Don't blame Faye. The two have a lot in common and as far as anyone knows you shouldn't care about Adam getting into a new relationship." Cassie gave Diana a look. "It sucks that you still love him. It's really very awful and I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Cassie asked, confused.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. After the whole elixir thing I just assumed you were okay because you didn't love him anymore. I should have went up to you and asked how you were. You were there for me when I broke up with Adam and I should have been there for you even if I thought you were fine."

"I wouldn't have told you anything. Melissa asked me how I was doing and I just lied to her." Cassie then shook her head. "You know it's so unfair. He just gets out of relationships so easily."

"What do you mean?" Diana asked, not understanding Cassie's comment.

"Well look at it. He was with you for what three years or something?" Cassie asked and all Diana did was nod. "Then I walk into town and we were like instantly attracted to each other, so you break up with him. You go through all this crying and stuff, but Adam all he does is move on to me. In fact it was like the week after he was asking me out and I was trying to say no because I didn't want to hurt you. Then he's with me. We're in love, then we're curse, and then we take a potion to get rid of our love for each other. It works on him, but not on me leaving me broken hearted and him being able to move on to someone else." Cassie then sighed "At least it wasn't right away though."

Diana nodded understanding. "It is unfair. Adam is just going through the girls in our Circle. First me, then you, now Faye. Who's after Faye? Melissa?" Cassie laughed, but Diana could tell she didn't mean it. That she was still really upset. "You shouldn't have to have a broken heart over him. Not when he got over it so easily."

"What can I do about it?" Cassie asked. "I've ignored my feelings, stopped thinking about them and him at times. I've even avoided him. I'll just have to continue doing that."

"Or we can try again." Cassie looked at Diana confused as Diana jumped off the couch and ran up the stairs yelling "I'll be right back." It wasn't long before Diana came running down the stairs spell book in hand. At one time Diana had kept her spell book at the abandoned house, but with the new Balcoins in town and stuff she decided to take it here when she moved in

Cassie was becoming impatient as Diana flipped through the old pages. "Try what again?" Cassie finally asked.

"This," Diana said handing the book to Cassie. "This should help you move on." Cassie looked at the potion Diana was talking about.

"You think it will work?" Cassie asked and Diana could hear the hope in her voice. "The last one didn't."

"We'd never know until we try. Come on. Let's see if you have all the herbs." Cassie jumped off the couch and went to go join her sister in the kitchen.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Remind me why we ever thought this place was a good hideout?" Faye asked Adam as she clambered over a log, trying to not trip in her heels.

Adam just laughed at her. "You should have worn flats."

"Now, now, I wouldn't look half as sexy in those as I do in heels." Faye scolded. "Be a gentleman and help me untangle my coat from this branch, will you?"

Adam rolled his eyes at her, but relented. As he pulled it free he looked up to the abandoned house through the branches, and saw Claire and Dylan. Faye didn't even have a chance to protest before Adam had covered her mouth and yanked her roughly to the ground where they couldn't be seen.

"Mmmmph…. Adam!" Faye said, voice muffled. She squirmed underneath him. "What the hell, Adam? I figured you were kinky, but this is just—"

"Claire and Dylan are outside the abandoned house." Adam whispered. "Can you please keep your voice down?"

"Sorry." said Faye meekly.

"What are they doing here?" Adam asked, sliding off Faye and apologetically brushing the dirt from her coat and jeans. "Do they know that it's Blackwell's house?"

"Maybe they think that his body is buried there or something." Faye guessed. "I mean, they might be trying to do some black magic to raise him from the dead."

"Or they're after what we're after." Adam said. "They are all dark magic-y, they have to know more than we do."

Faye sighed. "Well, now we can't get in there. Perfect. That skull will be haunting us for this."

Adam, knowing how it had made that awful nightmare that hurt Diana and it's possession of him that hurt Faye, shuddered at how true Faye's statement was. "Don't say that. Look, maybe we can still get in."

"Like a spell?" Faye asked. Her face lit up. " Oooh, what if we used it to do some sort of ghost-conjuring spell? That would scare them off!"

"Of course, Lucas and Ryder might come after us." Adam pointed out.

"Oh."

"And from what I've seen, that would be very bad. It's fair with us against the two younger ones, but we'd be outnumbered by Lucas and Ryder."

Faye shifted her weight so she was leaning against a tree but still shielded by the bushes. "Great. So now we just wait until they leave."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Melissa buried her face in her pillows and began to sob uncontrollably. She did her best to keep quiet, but soon her weeping became too loud even muffled by the pillows, and eventually she needed to come up for air. She had no clue what to do or who to talk to. Cassie and Diana both dated Adam, and were no doubt hurting too, and there was no way she could call Dylan and Claire. She was trapped, didn't know what to do.

After a few minutes there was a gentle knock at her door.

"Melissa? Honey what's wrong?" Her dad asked slowly entering the room.

"I don't really want to talk about it dad."

"But talking helps. Here let me go make you some mint tea, and when I get back we can talk?"

"I guess." Melissa said sitting up and wiping her eyes.

"So want to tell me what's going on?" Patrick asked handing her the cup of tea.

"Faye and Adam" She mumbled

"What about them?"

"They are dating. I really liked him, and for a while I thought maybe he liked me too."

"Did Faye know you liked him?"

"You know? Sometimes it really seemed like she did, and she's my best friend, it makes sense that she would have caught on, but I never actually told her." This was one of those moments where Patrick wished Sophie was still around. He knew he wouldn't be able to say the right thing so he wrapped his arm around his daughters shoulder, and rubbed her arm a bit pulling her close.

"You know Claire and Dylan? The two kids I've been hanging around?"

"Yes, they're sweet kids."

"Well there's a bit of drama there too. I don't know what happened! One minute were getting along great, and I'm headed to pick them up, the next their brothers are telling me what a bad influence I am on them and to stay away from them. I mean I never really got along with their brothers, and they've attacked me twice now- Uh verbally of course!—" Melissa quickly added, not wanting her dad to worry.

"They did nothing to help me when they were attacking me, just sat there and let them hit me with their words."

"Melissa hun, have you talked to them? I know it may be hard to do, but those boys are their brothers, it's hard to go against family. I understand that it's difficult, and that it hurts but you need to understand from their point of view too."

"I don't think I'm going to be talking to them for a while though dad."

"I understand, I just hope you consider it in the near future." He replied, though already forming a scheme in his head to try and patch that friendship up.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"I'm bored." Faye complained. "We've been here forever."

"Faye, it's only been an hour." Adam said patiently.

"So?" Faye whined.

Adam sighed. "If you want we can go home, but then we might not get whatever the skull wanted."

"I don't care." said Faye crossly. "I'm tired of being molested by the mosquitoes, and I'd rather be at home."

Adam was about to agree when voices drifted closer to them. He motioned for her to get down. Seconds later Claire and Dylan passed.

"I hope she's okay." They heard Claire say. Dylan made a remark about something they didn't understand, and soon the two were out of range.

"Did they just…. leave?" Faye asked. "Did they just ditch Lucas and Ryder?"

"We don't know Lucas and Ryder are even in there." Adam pointed out.

Faye said, "Yeah, well I'm betting they are, but now it's two against two. I like those odds, don't you?"

"They are a lot less gloomy." Adam said. "Fine, we'll go in and see if they're in there. No picking a fight, okay? Let's try to stay under the radar."

Faye nodded, and the two started towards the house. Halfway there Faye grabbed Adam's hand and squeezed it lightly. He smiled.

"So, what if they are in there?" Faye whispered.

Adam shrugged. "Then we try not to be seen, and if we are we fight them off so that we can run."

Faye nodded. They made the rest of the way silently, making sure not to step on anything that would make noise. Faye noticed that she was holding her breath, and that her heart was thrumming in her chest so loudly she was surprised that no one had heard it.

Once they were inside it was clear that Lucas and Ryder weren't on the main floor, or upstairs. Adam motioned towards the basement, where voices were coming from. Ever so slowly, they crept down the stairs.

Lucas and Ryder were crouched on the floor, underneath the Balcoin marked burned into the ceiling. They were both so engrossed in what they were doing that Faye and Adam managed to get down the stairs, under them, and behind a stack of old crates that were nearly an inch thick with dust.

"It has to be here." Lucas said. "We'll do the spell here, and even if this isn't the place somewhere the compartment it's in will open, hopefully."

"Compartment?" Faye mouthed at Adam. He shrugged.

Ryder sat cross-legged on the ground, as did Lucas. They both began to chant; it was too low for Adam or Faye to hear what they were saying, but obviously the spell was dark. Faye shuddered as they continued, catching the words _haec profert malum balcoin libri tenebris, ita et nos in virtute._

"Adam, what does that mean?" she hissed.

"I don't know, just keep quiet." He ordered.

After five minutes they finally stopped, and both Adam and Faye felt the eerie atmosphere lift. The spot Lucas and Ryder sat around shifted, revealed a door to a compartment in the ground. Lucas opened it wordlessly, lifting out a tattered book. Faye tugged on Adam's sleeve, mouthing, "Book of Shadows! Book of Shadows!" until he made a shushing motion at her.

"Found it." Ryder said, smirking. "And no interruptions from the Circle."

The two strode out, obviously very pleased with their find. Once they were gone Adam let out a breath, and Faye instantly ran over to the compartment only to find it empty. "Damn," she muttered, "I was hoping maybe they had left behind a page or something."

"They have the Balcoin Book of Shadows." Adam said. He was stunned.

"They have the Balcoin Book of Shadows." Faye repeated. "Peachy.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Diana read the book carefully as she gathered the ingredients needed for the potion to take away the pain Cassie felt over Faye and Adam's betrayal.

"Cassie, do you know where the ginger is?" Diana asked hand patting around the cupboard while she continued to read the book.  
"It's in the fridge." She replied crossing to the fridge and pulling it out, setting it on the counter with the rest of the ingredients.

"Alright so first we have to grind the Lethe's Bramble up and boil it in water for 30 minutes, then chop the rest of the ingredients up, and allow them to boil in the Bramble water for 10 minutes."

As Diana began to grind the Lethe's Bramble, Cassie set to work chopping up the other ingredients. Diana had just poured the Bramble into the pot and began the boil when the doorbell rang.  
The girls exchanged a look before they went to answer the door, on the other side stood Melissa's dad.  
"Oh, Hi Mr. Glaser." Diana greeted the older man with confusion.  
"Diana, Cassie, good evening, may I come in?" He asked as the first wave of Lethe's Bramble scent rolled towards them. His eyebrows shot up slightly as he recognized the scent. His wife being an expert with herbs, even after 16 years it was hard not to recognize certain smells. Though he quickly hid his suspicion.  
"Smells like you two are cooking something amazing." He said sending a glance in the direction of the kitchen, seeing their 'cooking project'.

"Yeah were making soup." Cassie said sending a glance towards Diana.

"Then I won't keep you long. It appears there is a little… misunderstanding, going on between Melissa and Claire and Dylan. I was wondering if you knew how I could get a hold of them?"

"Yeah sure, here let me write it down for you." Diana said, going to a junk drawer and pulling out a pad and paper. She quickly scribbled down the information he would need and handed it over.

"Thank you so much. I guess I'll be off now."

50 minutes later Cassie and Diana were staring at the cup of Elixir.  
"Give me a count of three?" Cassie asked

"One- Oh, I guess one works too." Diana said as Cassie downed her glass with a grimace not even waiting for two or three, at first though nothing was happening, but as soon as she thought it wasn't working Cassie could feel her pain being numbed and dying out, but just as it was about to go away completely, the potion stopped.

"So?" Diana asked

Cassie burst into tears.  
"Cassie? What's wrong?"  
" I still feel it! It still hurts! The pains mostly gone, but there's still a bit of feeling left! Diana? What's wrong with me? I haven't cried over Adam in so long, and now just when I want my feelings to be gone for good, he's found a way to stay in my heart! I just want to forget!" Cassie sobbed as Dianna pulled Cassie in to her shoulder, running one hand through her hair and drawing circles on Cassie's back, she just sat there with her, letting her cry.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye sat down on the bottom step of the stairs looking at the compartment in the floor, there it was it had been there this whole time and no one had even thought of it.

"Who even knew Blackwell has his own Book of Shadows?" Faye asked as she watched Adam check the compartment again before sitting next to her on the step.

"I don't think anyone did," Adam admitted. "But we should have thought of it, Cassie's book was from her Mother's side. There was always a likelihood that Cassie's dad would also have a family book," he said.

"And now the lovely Balcoins have it," Faye said sarcastically.

"What do you think they want it for?" Adam asked curiously and Faye shrugged.

"Any number of things, they could easily be trying to carry on Blackwell's work. And if they are that means we are in serious trouble," Faye told him with a small sigh. "Maybe we should try and steal the book off of them."

"Are you serious?"Adam asked, slightly in shock.

"Yeah, I am," She said. "Look the book would have more information on the skull and maybe what it wants" she told him "And it would stop them doing whatever they are planning to do which is bound to bad for all of us."

"Great so we either go up against the Balcoins or risk the skull making us hurt people," he said. "Not exactly a win win situation," he muttered.

"If we get the book it will be win win," she told him. "If it would give us any more information on the skull it would help and we could always use it to find a safe way to get the power from the skull," she said.

"Is that all you care about?" He asked looking over to her.

"Adam, that thing has caused us all a lot of trouble," she told him. "It almost killed us, it made you do things you didn't want to do and now it's trying to get us to do something that will probably turn the Circle against us. If the skull has less power then we might be able to fight it," she said and Adam sighed.

"Fine, but once we have the power we find a way to contain the skull safely so this never happens again," he said and Faye nodded.

"Deal," She said before smiling. "Seal it with a kiss?" she asked and Adam rolled his eyes before leaning in to kiss her quickly before pulling away.

"I really need to get to the boathouse," he told her and Faye pouted. "Come with me?" Adam asked and Faye gave a small shrug.

"Beats hanging around here and staring at a hole in the ground," She said as Adam stood up before reaching down to take her hands and pull her up. They headed out of the house and back through the forest to Adam's truck.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Someone knocking on the door made Melissa look up from where she was sat on the floor of her bedroom quietly sobbing. The knocking continued until finally Melissa slowly stood up and stumbled to the door, wrenching it open. There stood on the doorstep in the pouring rain was Claire and Dylan.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" Melissa demanded starting to get really angry.

"Patrick called us, we're here to explain." Dylan told her.

"Well save it, I don't want to hear your explanation." Melissa shouted.

"We want to apologize," Claire told her sadly.

"Well I don't accept your apology," Melissa told them, starting to shut the door on them. Dylan quickly stopped her by jamming his foot in the door.

"Please, for god's sake, just let us inside."

After about a minute Melissa opened the door and let them inside, they followed her into the living room where she stood across from them still looking angry.

"So can we explain?" Claire asked quietly.

"I don't want to hear it. Why are you even here? After what you did, you seriously thought I'd forgive you. I've got enough on my plate at the minute. After you two betrayed me I want nothing more to do with you!" she shouted at them, leaving Claire and Dylan stunned by her anger. They had never seen Melissa like this.

"That's not what your father thought, he called us he said you were really upset and wanted to work things out," Claire said, sounding hurt by Melissa's words.

"Well I don't, I just won't you to both go away," she told them angrily.

"Both of you shut up!" Dylan shouted. "Now I'm going to explain why we did what we did, please just sit down and listen." He pleaded. Melissa nodded slowly and sat down waiting.

"Right well we felt awful for tricking you and leading you into that trap, we wanted to warn you and stop Lucas and Ryder but we couldn't. Believe me we tried. You've never seen those two angry before their worse than John Blackwell. If we had gone against them then they would have been so angry and we would have the injuries to prove it. We didn't know what to do; they're too clever they knew how to make sure we wouldn't warn you about their plan. With Ryder and Lucas we always have to do what we're told, they're our brothers and if we don't do what we're meant to they punish us. That's why we lead you into that trap, but believe me we are both so sorry" Dylan told her truthfully.

Melissa slowly took in everything he said, she knew he was telling the truth and didn't really blame them doing as they were told. She was terrified of Lucas ad Ryder too, Melissa wasn't sure if she should forgive them yet but she's not very good at staying angry at people and she really needed some friends right now, Claire and Dylan are always good at making her fell better so Melissa knew they'd help her now. She just wished they were more careful and didn't get ordered round by their brother's too much.

"Okay," she told them nodding. "I know why you did it and I don't blame you. You're forgiven" she told them. "Just promise me something, don't follow Lucas's and Ryder's orders so much, If you disagree with what they're doing, don't do it. Don't let them force you into stuff."

"Ok we'll try," Dylan promised.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you." Claire gushed, rushing over and hugging Melissa.

"So hey, you want to talk about what's wrong?" Claire asked as the three of them got comfy in Melissa's front room. "I can tell something else is wrong."

"It's nothing, I'm being really pathetic." Melissa told them.

"I'm sure you're not," Dylan protested.

"It's just Faye and Adam have gotten together and are a couple now, I think. I just got upset because I sort of like Adam, I mean lately we've been getting really close and I thought he liked me. Obviously I was wrong." She admitted gloomily.

"Oh Melissa I'm sorry, you deserve much better anyway. There's the perfect guy out there somewhere just waiting for you." Claire told her confidently.

"Doubt it," Melissa muttered. "It just left me feeling lonely."

"You're not alone. You've got me, Dylan, Cassie, Diana, Jake, everyone at school and Faye and Adam are still your friends I'm sure." Claire told her.

"They are, they don't even know that them being together upsets me." Melissa told them. "It's not their fault, they've done nothing wrong. They've got every right to get together. It's just me being stupid." Melissa rambled on.

"You're not stupid." Both Dylan and Claire told her.

"Honestly Adam's not good enough for you anyway," Dylan told her.

"Thanks guys," Melissa whispered starting to feel better, sure it still hurts but she'll get over it. She just needs time.

"So you okay now?" Claire asked

"Not really, but I will be. You two have really helped me, thanks."

"It's no problem; it's what friends do for each other, right? Claire told her.

"Yeah it is, so are you guys doing anything now?" Melissa asked wanting some company.

Dylan and Claire shared an uneasy look, silently communicating.

"Nah we're not, you want to do something?" Dylan asked.

"Do you want to stay over? I could do with the company."Melissa asked not wanting to be left alone right now.

"Umm..." Claire murmured thinking "I guess we –

Before Claire could finish her sentence Lucas and Ryder came storming through the door and into Melissa's house.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Lucas demanded.

"We can explain" Dylan started but was then interrupted,

"Told you we'd find them here," Ryder muttered smirking evilly.

"I told you two to stay at the motel." Lucas muttered angrily, "Why the hell didn't you?"

"It was an emergency." Claire quietly protested.

"Emergency? Your here with Melissa, that's hardly an emergency. This is pathetic. Ryder and I are going out, you two better get back to the motel now or they will be hell to pay!" Lucas shouted before turning round and storming out. Ryder shot Claire and Dylan an evil look before following.

Claire and Dylan stood there shocked for a minute before quickly getting their stuff together, ready to leave.

"I'm sorry" Claire whispered hugging Melissa "We have to go, we've got no choice" she told her.

Melissa nodded, she wouldn't disobey Lucas either he looked extremely angry, it was pretty scary. She stood and waved goodbye to Claire and Dylan as they left before slowly turning back and heading in to her house, alone.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Jake wanted to get out of his house. He was sick and tired of doing nothing, so he decided to go next door and see how Cassie and Diana were doing. When he got to the door he noticed it was unlocked and decided just to walk in and surprise the two girls. When he came in he stepped on something and went to pick up whatever it was.

"Hey, who would leave season one of _Heroes_ lying on the floor? I loved this show. I was really pissed off when it was can..." Jake stopped when he walked into the living room and saw Diana holding a crying Cassie. Jake put the season down on the table and went right over to sit next to the girls. "What's wrong?"

Cassie turned around and suddenly she was crying on Jake's shoulder and not Diana's. Jake basically lifted the girl onto his lap and let Cassie cry into him. He rubbed circles into Cassie's back not knowing what else to do."What's going? Why is Cassie so upset?"

"Well short version is the elixir never worked on Cassie, she still loves Adam, and now Adam is dating Faye leaving Cassie with a broken heart." Diana explained.

"What?" Jake asked, confused.

"What part confused you?" Diana asked, not really knowing how she could make it clearer without going into a large explanation about what was going on.

"Faye is dating Adam?" Jake asked, clearly shocked. Diana didn't really know what to say. She forgot this would be a touchy subject for Jake too. "It hasn't even been a week since we broke up. Not even a week and she's now dating the guy I thought she was cheating on me with. I mean seriously. I guess I hit the bull eyes on that one." Diana let Jake rant and truthfully didn't know what she could say in Faye's defense. Jake had thought Faye was cheating on him with Adam and it now looked like she really had been since she got together with him so fast after the break up.

"Poor Cassie," Jake finally said when he was done complaining about Faye. "That must have been so hard for you."

For the ten minutes Jake held Cassie as both he and Diana whispered comforting words to her telling her how it would be okay. Finally Cassie calmed down and looked at the two. "I think that potion is working very slowly," Cassie said.

"What potion?" Jake asked.

"We made a potion to help Cassie move on and forget Adam," Diana explained. "So it's just a slow acting potion. By tomorrow you won't feel anything for Adam and be ready to move on." Diana eyes turned to Jake when she said that, but the former witch hunter didn't seem to notice.

Cassie nodded and laid her head on Jake's chest closing her eyes. "Cassie, you're exhausted. It's time for you to go to bed." Diana told her sister.

"It's too early," Cassie complained, but didn't open her eyes.

"If I remember correctly you had problems sleeping last night and you're clearly exhausted right now. You're going to bed, no ifs, ands, or buts."

Jake stood up lifting Cassie in his arms as he did. "Jake, what are you doing?" Cassie asked.

"Bringing you up to your bedroom. You heard your sister. No ifs, ands, or buts, you're going to bed and I agree with her." Jake started to walk up the stairs. Diana had a small smile on her face watching Jake carry Cassie up the stairs, but then followed the two.

When Diana got up to Cassie's bedroom Jake was just putting Cassie down on the bed. Jake looked at Cassie as she lay down on the pillow. "Jake, get out," Diana said making Jake look at her. "Going to get Cassie into her pajamas so she's comfortable and you can't be here while she changes." Jake nodded and left the room closing the door behind him.

Diana got out Cassie's pajamas and threw them at the half asleep girl. Cassie put them on and then lay back down on the bed. Diana put the covers over Cassie and then looked at her sister. "Cassie, sleep," Diana whispered and was happy when she did not respond. Cassie had fallen fast asleep.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"You idiots!" Ryder fumed at Claire and Dylan. He and Lucas had arrived back at the motel to find the two, who said they had simply left because Claire thought that Melissa had been upset "I can't believe you actually left your posts for some stupid witch!"

"Melissa isn't stupid." Claire mumbled. "She is really hurting and we can't go see her because she hates us and it is all your fault."

"Why should I care?" Ryder asked. "Oh, wait; I should care because it made you leave your damn posts! You were supposed to guard the abandoned house!"

"No one actually went there." Dylan said.

The whole time Lucas had been watching with an odd air of calmness, flipping through the pages of the Book of Shadows. "Now, now," he chided, "No need to get upset. We got what we wanted, and no one found us."

"But they _left_!" Ryder yelled. He looked like he was seriously considering slapping both of them.

Lucas shook his head. "You need to control your temper. We can deal with them later. For now we have to focus on the spell."

"The spell?" Claire asked.

"The one Blackwell had intended to do." Said Ryder, grinning menacingly. "To kill all witches without Balcoin blood. To create a pure race."

Claire and Dylan shuddered. "That's wrong." Claire said softly.

"It's right." Lucas said. "Then we'll have a Circle of our own; a pure Circle. Cassie and Diana might be unwilling to join, but we'll convince them."

Ryder was extremely pleased by Lucas's words. "In fact," he growled, "Maybe you two can be the ones to beat them into submission. It's only fair, since you left us on our own to find the book."

Claire and Dylan were speechless.

Lucas said, "First we have to prepare for the spell."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye lounged at a booth, despondently pushing the food on her plate around. "I just wish we could have gotten the book… I'll bet it has a ton of cool spells in it."

"Like what? How to fry people to death with your mind?"

"Maybe."

Faye was watching Adam's reactions closely, trying to figure out what was bothering him. He'd been especially moody since they'd gotten back to the Boathouse. Talking about the skull got him the same way, and she was beginning to suspect that there was something serious going on with him.

"Hold on," Faye said, "Didn't you go barging in on the Balcoins when Jake thought they hurt me?"

Adam winced at the memory. "Yes. Why?"

"You know where they live!"

"Yes…" he answered apprehensively. "Again, why?"

Faye was bouncing up and down in her seat gleefully. "We can go there and steal the Book of Shadows from them!"

"Why?"

"So we can be dark magic badasses, of course." Faye said. "You in? If you aren't I'll just get the address from Jake."

Adam knew that it was a bad idea, but he nodded his head. "Fine. I'll go, but just to keep you from doing something stupid. Got it?"

"Yes, sir!" Faye mocked, playfully saluting him. She got up from her seat and sauntered over to his side of the booth, straddling his lap.

"Faye, what are you doing?" Adam asked. He found himself mesmerized by the girl hovering near to his face.

"Having fun." She whispered into his ear. "How else will we pass the time until tomorrow?"

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Diana walked downstairs to find Jake pacing the floor. "I can't believe them." Jake said to Diana as she got downstairs.

"Who?" Diana asked and then realized how stupid of a question that was.

"Faye and Adam," Jake yelled. "They make me so mad I just want to..." Jake punched the wall, making a hole in it. Diana looked over and saw a similar hole not too far away.

"Do you come here to just punch holes in Cassie's wall?" Diana joked and Jake gave her a look. "Okay, maybe not the best joke in the world, but I do have a point here. Punching holes in the wall won't help." Diana said and then added "and neither will punching Adam." Jake looked at Diana. "I'm serious. Don't do anything stupid like beating up on Adam. That is not going to work if you ever want Faye back."

"It's ridiculous how quickly Faye moved on. I mean it was less than a week." Jake said. "She was cheating on me. I know she was."

"Jake if you do anything dumb you'll never get Faye back," Diana pointed out again and Jake nodded knowing Diana was right. "Maybe you shouldn't want her back."

"What?" Jake asked confused. Since he broke up with Faye he had been regretting the decision. Of course wanted Faye back.

"You guys tried twice," Diana said. "All the two of you do is fight. The two of you might just not belong together. It might be time for you to move on like Faye obviously has." Diana then decided to drop a hint on who Jake should move on with. "Maybe there is a girl not too far from here you can move on with." Jake gave Diana a confused look clearly not getting what Diana meant.

Diana rolled her eyes. She was clearly going to have to spell this out for Jake. "Maybe there's a certain really sad blonde witch who is very lonely and really needs to be loved." If he didn't get it that time Diana was going to hit him over the head. Luckily for Jake he got it.

"Cassie," Jake whispered looking up the stairs and Diana smiled. "You think?" Diana nodded. "But I tried for Cassie once. It didn't work at all."

"It's a different time now. You're a different person and she's a different person." Diana said. "I'm not saying try anything tonight or tomorrow. I'm saying think about it. There was always something between the two of you and now that other people are not in your way I think something between the two of you could work." Diana paused for a minute and then said "I just want my sister to be happy. I want you to be happy and if you could be happy together I say go for it."

Jake didn't know what to say. Diana had just given him her blessing to be with Cassie. Something that hadn't even crossed his mind for a while, but then his mind went back to a few nights ago. When he had woken up with Cassie in his arm. It had felt good and Jake would be lying if he said he didn't like Cassie. He still had feelings for her and according to Diana Cassie might just have feeling for him.

"I can see I gave you a lot to think over." Jake nodded. "We'll do it in your house. I'm going to bed." Diana opened the front door and Jake nodded leaving the house. He did have a lot to think over and a decision to make, Faye or Cassie.

Diana went up stairs into her room and got changed. Not long later she was under the covers with the light off. She was halfway asleep when she heard crying in her head. She knew it was coming from Cassie, but she also knew Cassie was asleep. The two had gotten good at blocking each other out at times, but at night it was almost impossible. In fact the two of them were sharing dreams a lot lately, which got kind of weird if Diana ended up dreaming of Grant. It seemed though tonight Diana would have to listen to Cassie cry in her sleep. Diana was actually impressed Cassie had kept the Adam thing secret from her. She must have really blocked it so well that even in her sleep it was blocked, like Diana had done with the information about her father.

Diana knew the minute Cassie woke up. She felt it and she knew Cassie was really upset. Diana jumped out of bed and was in Cassie's room not long later. She sat down on the bed and hugged her sister as Cassie cried. "Is the potion still working?" Diana asked.

"Yes," Cassie said. "Every hour I feel less and less for Adam. It still hurts a lot though." Diana nodded understanding. "Don't leave me.'

"I'll stay with you all night if I have to. Until you feel nothing for Adam anymore." Diana told her sister and lay down in the bed. Cassie put her head on Diana using the girl as a pillow and cried for a while longer until she fell asleep once again.

Diana moved some hair out of Cassie's face and kissed the top of her sisters head. "In the morning you'll feel nothing for Adam and then you can finally move on," Diana whispered putting her arms around her sister and she too fell asleep.

**Translation of the spell (the one that uncovered the Balcoin Book of Shadows): **with these words we bring forth the darkness and the evil of balcoin book, so it will bring us power.

**Anon review replies:**

**BaconLuvva: Ummm…. Sorry you don't like Sanders. There aren't any cliffs in Chance Harbor, though, so I'm afraid he can't get shoved off one. Glad you liked the chapter, though :)**

**Also, what does liberty and bacon forever mean?**

**Guest: thank you!**

**Olivia: Thank you! We try our best :)**

**BoomBoom: Sorry you don't like Sanders :) I don't think he can leave, though, sorry…. Like I told BaconLuvva, Chance Harbor is lacking cliffs. I'd love if you'd tell us what you think of the rest of the season, aside from Sanders**

**Jensen: If it makes you feel any better, when we originally had this written, I had planned for her to just be a normal, sort-of nosy person. Sorry it ruined the moment for you :( we'll definitely try to make Melissa stronger, and I don't think her friendship with Dylan and Claire is over just yet….**

**Guest: thanks! We update every Thursday, in case you didn't know**


	10. Taken

**Plotline writers – Forcystus5, xleamalfoyx, Coralinas, thefallenloveoflife, flower gettin' lady**

**Writers – Coralinas, Forcystus5, CharmedMilliE, ilove2dance, luisa Mendoza, thefallenloveoflife, witch-witha-B, TtylerMaria**

**Editors – flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B, Your Sister. Duh**

**Graphic Designers – xleamalfoyx, Charlene F.**

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Episode 10 – "Taken"

Melissa heaved her bag up from the kitchen table, sighing. Today was going to be another long, tedious day at school in classes and in the hallways with Faye and Adam. It had been nice to have Claire and Dylan come over, but Melissa feared that they wouldn't be allowed to see her anymore. There wasn't anyone else to talk to; not Diana, not Cassie, not Faye. All of them had been—or were with—Adam, and it was too awkward to even discuss

She was seriously considering ditching. What could possibly happen if she did? Sure, she might get detention, but it was better than watching Adam shove his tongue down Faye's throat. It was times like these that made Melissa wish she could have been the one to take that elixir, not Cassie.

She was jolted out of her thoughts by the doorbell. Opening it, she said, "Yeah?"

Claire and Dylan were both standing there, grinning widely.

"What? Is this some sort of joke I'm supposed to get?"

"We're free for the day!" Claire exclaimed, unable to contain her excitement.

"Free? How?" To Melissa it had seemed that Ryder and Lucas were furious at the two younger Balcoins.

Dylan said, "They think we're in the woods honing our dark magic, since they want us to be better witches. Well, better, evil witches."

"Are you going to go to school?" Melissa asked, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "I can drive you, if you want."

"Nah, Ryder and Lucas will probably go there to check that we're not lying to them." Claire said.

Already Melissa felt lonely, abandoned. She had hoped that maybe with Claire and Dylan at school she could use them as a buffer, a way to ignore everyone else. "Oh, okay."

She had started out the door when Claire grabbed her arm. "No, you don't understand." She said. "We want to take you somewhere. You know, to apologize for having to leave you yesterday."

"It wasn't your fault." Melissa said.

"But…. Will you come anyway?" Dylan asked. He looked so hopeful that Melissa could hardly say no.

"Sure. Where are we going?"

The two smiled mischievously. "There's this 'autumn festival'—" Claire's air quotes were exaggerated "—that is a town away, where Lucas and Ryder would never think to look. It'll be so fun!"

Melissa found their happiness infectious. "Anything is better than school. How about I drive and you tell me where to go?"

"Sounds great!"

Claire and Dylan ran for her car, Dylan fighting Claire playfully for the front seat and winning. As Melissa started the engine Dylan turned the radio on, some P!nk song blaring loudly.

"Girly music." Dylan complained, wrinkling his nose.

"I like it." said Claire.

Melissa laughed as she pulled away from the curb, Claire batting Dylan's hand from the radio. It was going to be a good day.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye and Adam were also ditching class, the night before at the Boathouse they had decided to skip school and head over to the Motel where the Balcoin's were living to try and find the Book of Shadows. Even though Faye knew she shouldn't have been skipping school because of what was going on with her mom at the moment, they both decided that it was the best time of day to scope out the room. Claire and Dylan would be at school so they only had to deal with Lucas and Ryder.

"Are we there yet?" Faye asked, her voice teasing, they had only been driving for about 10 minutes. Adam rolled his eyes as he heard the comment.

"If we were there I would tell you," he said. "We need to talk anyway."

"Wow, way to sound morbid," Faye said, looking over at him.

"I'm serious Faye."

"Ummm, no you're Adam," she joked before getting a look from Adam. "Fine, be grumpy," she muttered, and both were quiet for a few minutes. "Okay, you make this big deal about this serious discussion and then you don't say anything."

"Okay, I need to make sure we are clear on some things," Adam told her. "If anyone is in or around the room, we are not going in. We can only wait for a while because I need to get back to the Boathouse, so no 'five more minutes' like this morning," he said, a small smile on his face when he got to the end of the sentence.

"Yes Sir," Faye joked, saluting him and Adam sighed.

"Faye..."

"I know, I know," she told him. "We don't go in until the coast is clear."

"Even if it is even odds we are not going up against them. Jake and I got hurt last time, we are not doing that again."

"Okay," Faye answered, emphasizing the word to let him know that she heard him and understood.

"And if they show up when we are in there..." He faltered, hoping it wouldn't happen. "We do whatever we have to to get out of there."

"Adam, I'm not stupid," She told him. "You need to relax and stop being so paranoid," she said, resting her hand on his knee as he continued to drive.

"I'm not paranoid Faye," he said. "I am just being cautious, even if it is just Lucas and Ryder there we're out magiced by them by a long way. They are powerful and they won't hesitate to kill us."

"Fine they're powerful and probably killers, can we worry about that if they find us and not before?" she asked. "We could get in and out without them ever knowing."

"Or we could almost get killed" he pointed out.

"Always the optimist aren't you?" she asked sarcastically before Adam sighed, not saying anything more.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Diana and Cassie were taking their notebooks out of their backpacks. Diana was looking around. _'Where is everyone?'_ Diana mentally asked her sister. Usually the Circle met outside this classroom before walking in to prepare for Mr. Sanders, but the other three hadn't shown up. Cassie and Diana had just decided to take their seats._ 'I mean I guess Faye and Adam could be skipping to... Sorry.'_ Diana knew it was too late to stop the mental picture of Faye and Adam from going to Cassie

_'No, I don't care,'_ Cassie told her sister making Diana look at her. Cassie had a small smile on her face._ 'That's probably what they are doing, but I couldn't care less.'_ Cassie smile got bigger and Diana had to smile too. Cassie's happiness was going through their link making Diana feel happy too.

_'You seem really happy,'_ Diana commented.

_'The potion finally finished working. I have no feelings for Adam anymore. I couldn't care less who he's sleeping with or who he is dating. There's nothing left. I haven't felt this good and this happy since before the Elixir stuff.'_ Diana smile grew bigger as she heard the news. She was happy for her sister.

_'That's great, how do you...'_ Diana got distracted by Mr. Sanders calling both hers and Cassie's name. Both turned to look at the teacher. They had been so engrossed in their privet conversation that they hadn't realized class had started until Mr. Sanders called their names.

"You two sleeping in class or something?" Mr. Sanders asked.

Before Diana could say anything Cassie said, "Well you make it so easy." Then she laughed out loud. "Just joking with you Mr. S. We got distracted. Did you ask us something?" Mr. Sanders seemed taken aback by the joke and Diana herself was shocked at Cassie's level of easiness when addressing their teacher they nicknamed The Creeper

"I was just asking you where Mr. Conant, Ms. Chamberlain, and Ms. Glaser were," Mr. Sanders said.

"How am I supposed to know? What am I their keeper? Are they supposed to check in with me or something?" Cassie asked and Sanders just looked at her. "I'm their friend. I don't keep tabs on them, but if I had to guess Adam and Faye are probably in his bed after an interesting night and Melissa is... I don't know. Diana?"

Cassie turned to Diana who had been trying not to laugh at Cassie's directness with their teacher. "Um... She might have overslept," Diana said.

"Okay," Mr. Sanders said and then paused for a minute. "Well like I was saying, I graded your papers..."

"Seriously? Didn't we just hand them in yesterday?" Cassie asked.

"Well I had some time on my hands yesterday in the library so I spent the day grading. I was very impressed by a lot of you, but one group stood out." He held up a paper and then put it on Cassie's desk. "Your group Ms. Blake did a fantastic group on a very unusual topic. The pros and cons of binding a Circle?" Mr. Sanders clearly wanted to see how far Cassie's new attitude would go and it was at that time Cassie decided it might be best not to answer. "Some parts seemed really personal. Like the part of about not being able to unlock your locker with magic by yourself."

"Well you know we just decided to talk about how we think witches would feel about not having solo magic." Cassie said. "I'm very happy you enjoyed our paper. We'll make sure the next is just as great." Cassie held up her hands a Vulcan salute "Live long and prosper." Diana couldn't take it anymore and she started laughing followed by Cassie.

Mr. Sanders didn't know what to say, so he walked over to the next group. _'Okay, you need to calm down. You know how dangerous that could have been.'_ Diana thought to her sister.

_'Yeah, I know. Sorry, I feel so good right now. I guess I just wasn't thinking. I'll be more careful,'_ Cassie thought back. _'But did you see his face?'_ A mental image of Sanders face showed through the link and the two girls started giggling again. _'That was worth it.'_

"If you two are done. I have a class to teach," Mr. Sanders said to them and Cassie and Diana nodded and tried to pay attention as The Creeper talked.

Cassie found it impossible though. She felt so great and just a little bit hyper now that all her feelings for Adam were gone. The last thing she wanted to do was sit in class. She wished she had gotten whatever memo the other three had that said to skip. She and Diana could have spent the day watching TV or doing something fun. Maybe even doing something fun with Jake. As she thought of the boy Cassie couldn't help but smile and couldn't help but remember waking up in his arms. Cassie knew nothing had happened that time, but now she wanted something to happen. She wanted to kiss Jake and couldn't help but imagine how it would feel.

_'That's a nice thought to share,'_ Diana thought, but Cassie could tell she wasn't upset she saw Cassie's daydreams. While they had gotten good at blocking each other blocking something that wasn't an absolute secret was just a pain. They had to physically think they didn't want the other person to hear it and for something like daydreaming that's not something you do first. _'So you like Jake now?'_

_'Well I liked Jake before everything happened with Adam. I really did I had just been drawn to Adam. Now that I'm over Adam I like Jake again. Now that he's not with Faye it could happen, but I know I need to give him some time. I do want to be with Jake though,'_ Cassie told her sister.

_'Well that's great. You and Jake would be cute together, but be careful. I don't know how Faye would take the two of you being together,'_ Diana warned.

_'Weren't you the one who said Faye said she would be fine with it?'_ Cassie asked.

_'That's what she keeps saying, but you know Faye.'_ Cassie nodded as she thought of all the times Faye called her a boyfriend stealer and at that time the two hadn't been together for two years. How would Faye take a relationship between Jake and Cassie now?

_'Whatever, I'll be careful. But I'm not going to let Faye rule my life. The two have broken up and Faye already is dating someone else. If she gets jealous well sucks for her. She can't own every boy in Chance Harbor. It's either Jake or Adam and she chose Adam.'_

_'That's the spirit.'_ Diana said trying not to laugh again._ 'I think Jake would be good for you. It would be a healthy non written in the stars relationship.'_

_'Yeah you know thinking that over that was kind of creepy. I mean we were supposed to be destined to be with each other for ever? We're 16! How many people stay with the person they dated in high school? I mean come on.'_ Cassie thought and Diana had to agree. Thinking it over the two being 'written in the stars' was a little creepy.

_'We should really try to pay attention to the creeper before he realizes we're not,'_ Diana said looking up at the board. Mr. Sanders was writing something down and was talking nonstop about some topic Diana didn't even know what. Diana had spent most of the class looking down at her notebook making it look like she was taking notes. In reality she had been doodling little hearts in her notebook and then had written hers and Grants name in one and Jake's and Cassie's in the other. She had been also thinking that if Jake and Cassie did get together maybe they could go on a double date when Grant came back.

_'It's not like we're passing notes, using our cell phone, or talking. We're just thinking and he can't control our thoughts.'_ Cassie looked up at Mr. Sanders._ 'At least I hope not. We really got to figure out more about this guy.'_

_'Agreed, did you ever figure out how to pick the lock to his office?' _Diana thought going back to her doodling.

_'I don't think that's happening. Called my old friend but the way he explained it was way too complicated. Didn't understand any part of it. I think we're going to have to figure something else out.'_

_'Well that sucks, but we'll figure something out. We always do even last minute.'_ Diana continued to doodle in her notebook.

_'Yeah you're right,'_ Cassie agreed._ 'By the way planning a double date is a little early considering Jake and I aren't even dating yet.'_ Diana shocked looked at her sister. She had realized Cassie had heard that thought. _'I know all your secrets Diana. I am like A.'_

Diana had to stop herself from laughing getting the reference Cassie was making right away. _'I didn't know you liked Pretty Little Liars. What books are you up to?'_

_'I watched the TV Show, but have planned to read the books.'_

_'Well I have them, so you can borrow them if you want,'_ Diana said.

_"Great and you'll have to watch the TV Show one day.'_ Cassie said.

_"Deal,'_ Diana thought back and the two continued to chat happily through their bond ignoring the creeper until class was over.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Melissa smiled as she got out of her car and could already smell the festival food in the air, she always found festivals to have a certain magical feel to them, and since discovering real magic, she would have thought that it would have changed, but nothing did, it still felt as magical as always.

Dylan smiled as he saw the look on Melissa's face, she looked just about as excited as the younger children running around.

"Let's go in!" she said, as if it were the door to Narnia. As they walked through the fairgrounds Melissa couldn't help but admire the band that was playing a little off in the distance and just barely in view, it was a small country band, the lead vocalist a girl whose voice sounded bigger than she could possibly hold inside of her small body, and a cute guy with only a slight twang as the second lead. Though the two had such contrasting voices, they mixed together so well, it created something far more beautiful than could have been if they were apart.  
The festival was set up in a horse shoe around the stage, with about 4 rows of merchants circling giving the perfect chance for the group to be heard.  
Dylan stepped up to a ring toss for their first carnival activity. His first try failed a little, and as a participation prize he got a small stuffed green monkey.

"Nah, I can do better." He said rolling his sleeves up.

"He's such a macho man isn't he?" Claire said rolling her eyes.

"It's fun though. I love this atmosphere. It's so small town, so friendly, inviting. I dunno it's nice to get away from home. It's like the drama hangs in a cloud, and the further away from chance harbor, the better I felt. Does that sound silly for this just being one town over?"

"Not at all," Claire smiled at her

"Ladies, I come baring gifts," Dylan said, both hands behind his back. First he presented the Green monkey to Claire, who immediately loved it.

"Big head and a pot belly. It's adorable!" She sang hugging her brother.

"And for you," Dylan said pulling out a slightly larger second place prize and presenting it to Melissa. It was a stuffed owl, with many colored feathers and a round face, much like a great grey's. It was a gorgeous plush.

"Oh it's gorgeous!" She said taking the doll and looking it over, before giving him a hug.  
Claire raised an eyebrow at Dylan, shook her head and laughed.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

We're here." Adam said, pulling into the parking lot of a rickety-looking motel. Faye's eyebrows scrunched together at the sight. "I know, it's pretty run-down."

"So are they in there?"

"Faye, I'm not psychic."

Faye glared at him balefully. "Shut up."

They sat in the parking lot for several minutes, watching the building. Faye's leg was jiggling up and down nervously, and she kept tugging at her hair or trying to fix it. After a minute she looked over at Adam to see he was smiling at her. "What?"

"It's cute, how you're so jittery." Adam said. When she gave him a dirty look, he added, "Never mind."

Faye wasn't sure if she should have been offended by Adam saying she was cute, so instead she settled for the evil eye before returning to watching the motel. Soon she couldn't take it anymore. "Can we do a spell or something? Maybe we could enhance our hearing and see if anyone is in there."

"Sure, why not?"

They joined hands. Lately, it was easier to do magic without words. Adam suspected the skull, but he didn't tell Faye. He was afraid of what she might do. Magic coursed through both of them, and Adam jumped when he heard a fly buzzing on the car's windshield, sounding like it was right next to his head. "I think it worked."

Faye nodded. She pinched her eyes shut, imagining that she was walking towards the room where the Balcoins stayed. It was hard, and a few times she was listening to random people that weren't Lucas or Ryder, and sometimes she'd hear bugs or cars driving down the street. "Anything?" she asked Adam.

"Not yet." He had his eyes open, staring at the door of the Balcoin's room. Unfortunately it wasn't working, and it was obvious that Faye had the right idea.

Still keeping her eyes shut, Faye gasped when she found Ryder's voice. "I hear him." She whispered. "They're both there, but I don't hear Claire or Dylan."

"What are they saying?" it had just then occurred to Adam that they could use the enhanced hearing to find out what Lucas and Ryder were doing.

She shrugged. "No…. just vague voices and a few random words. It's not enough to understand what's going on."

"Oh."

"So… can we go knock them out or something?" Faye asked. At Adam's shocked look, she said, "What?"

"They're definitely stronger than us." He told her. "We're not going to go attack them. Even if we got away they would probably come after the whole Circle."

"We'll be fine!" Faye insisted.

"No, Faye. _No_."

She stuck her lip out in an attempt to pout, but he ignored her. "Whatever, but if Claire and Dylan get back when Lucas and Ryder leave, I am _so_ going to kill you!"

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"You really think they're at the Boathouse?" Cassie asked. "Adam spends all his time there, and doesn't he have to work whenever he's there?"

"Yeah, he does." Diana said. "You never know, maybe they're hanging out in the back room—" she flinched at the insensitivity of the statement. "Sorry."

"I don't love him, remember?" Cassie reminded her. "You're right, too, I bet they're not working at all." She wiggled her eyebrows, making Diana laugh.

As soon as they entered they noticed that Jake was sitting at the bar, presumably looking for Faye. Aside from him, no one else in the Circle was at the Boathouse.

"Hey, Jake!" Cassie said.

"Hey, Cassie. Hey, Diana." He said. "Have you guys seen Faye anywhere? I thought she might be here, but…"

Cassie's face fell when he mentioned Faye. "Ummm… no."

"She and Adam were both absent from school." Diana added.

_Why would you tell him that? _Cassie asked. _Now he's just going to get angry, and he'll want to go after Adam and kill him._

_Maybe he'll realize that Faye doesn't seem to want him back…_ Diana thought back suggestively.

Cassie refused to answer Diana. "I don't think Faye or Adam will be back anytime soon." She said.

Jake nodded. "I know. Why are you girls here?"

"We were seeing if Faye, Adam, or Melissa were here. All three of them were absent today." Diana said. "Apparently they're all elsewhere."

"How was school?" Jake asked. "It's weird, seeing all of you go every morning while I stay at home."

"Mr. Sanders was being a creeper again." Cassie said. "Hey, I have an idea!"

"What?"

She grinned, saying, "Well, I'm sure you want to get your mind off Faye, right?"

"Of course." He said, eyes darkening at the mention of her name.

"Why don't we go back to school? Mr. Sanders might still be there, and we could follow him home. There might be more things in his house that will tell us what he is."

"Perfect." He said. "I'm an expert at following people."

As they left Cassie couldn't help but smile, gently brushing her arm against his. _This is going to be fun…_

_Why is that, then?_

_Diana!_

_Sorry. You know, I think that maybe Jake likes you…_

Cassie blushed furiously, hiding her face for a moment. _You never know._

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

The band on stage continued to play wonderfully amazing songs, they had just finished a slow number, and now were moving on to a faster paced good timey song.

"Come on guys!" Melissa said grabbing their hands and hurrying down one of the rows towards the stage, as they reached the area in front of the stage Melissa tucked her owl in her purse and then grabbed the twins hands, beginning a sort of country like jig along with the music, making it up as she went and having the twins follow her lead. Soon the three of them had on lookers joining them, until they had started a full on line dance. As the song finally came to a close the little lady on stage spoke into her microphone

"Well that's probably the best reaction to one of our songs we've ever gotten. How about we do another fast paced song, because I love watching yall dance!" The crowd cheered in response as the next song picked up and they all began dancing again. The trio danced together laughing and having so much more fun as they tried to add more steps to the dance.

After a while it was time for the band's set to be done, and the next band to come up, Claire decided that she'd like to go back to looking around the booths, so they set off again.  
Soon though Melissa couldn't help but follow her nose as it picked up on the distinct smell of Rosemary and Juniper. The scent led her to a small booth called _Nature's Backyard_

"Dylan, Claire! Come here" she waved them in.

"Welcome! Is there anything I can help you find?"

"Oh we're just browsing. I also want to test these two on what I've been teaching them." Melissa said with a smile before turning to a rack with many different herbs and spices in the slots.

"Alright, what is this one?" Melissa asked covering the sticker that held its name.  
"Lovage." Dylan responded after a second

"And its usage?"

"As an antiseptic or digestive aid."

"Alright and this one?" She asked again covering its label. Claire smiled

"It's Barberry, very good for detoxification, and has good disease fighting properties."

"Pretty good, but what about," Melissa began searching for a hard one, when she found it she quickly covered it "What about this one?"  
"Skullcap." The twins said in unison.

"I'm very impressed by these two." The shop keeper finally said after a few more rounds of guess the herb.

"Thanks, I've been teaching them everything I know."

"I can tell you are very talented as well." Melissa smiled at the woman then told Claire and Dylan to pick out anything they wanted, promising to show them new tinctures when they got home.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Faye, come on we've been here ages. There's no point, we might as well just leave," Adam moaned, trying to make Faye give up and go home.

"No Adam I want this book of shadows; it will come in very useful. If we leave now then we won't get it to will we? Just be patient" she told him bossily.

"But Faye-

"Shhh!" Faye whispered to shut Adam up, she pointed to the door of the motel room Lucas and Ryder had just come out of. They quickly drove away in Lucas's car, not noticing Faye and Adam.

Faye and Adam waited a minute to make sure they had left before Faye jumped up and ran over.

"Come on, quick before they come back" Faye shouted to Adam. She ran up to the door of the room and tried to open it using her magic, which didn't work.

"What's wrong?" Adam asked when he saw her angry face.

"It's locked and my magic won't open, it must be spelled shut specially somehow," Faye explained annoyed. "Can you figure out how to open it?" she asked hopeful.

"Give me a minute," Adam murmured. He started whispering words and trying to figure out what kind of spell the Balcoin's had used to keep the door locked. It took Adam a couple of minutes to work it out.

"Got it!" he exclaimed turning to Faye, who started smiling.

"Repeat after me," he told Faye. The two of them quietly started to chant the spell and after about a minute the door suddenly swung open.

"Yes!" Shouts Faye, she then reached up and gives kissed Adam.

"Well done" she whispered in his ear, before hurrying into the room. Adam followed her after checking for a sign of any of the Balcoin's, he shut the door behind them so no one could see what was going on. Faye stood in the middle of the room, which was a complete mess. They didn't have much chance of finding the book of shadows in here.

"Ok then, let's get to work before anyone comes back" Faye ordered

"Ok then" Adam agreed before starting to look around. Faye riffled through draws, searched every nook and cranny of the room, desperate to the Balcoin's book of shadows.

Adam went to work searching through a big desk to see if the book was hidden in a draw, he also checked the bookcase to see if someone had hidden it there; while Faye searched all the places people would hide things (Sock Draws, on top of the wardrobe.) She found nothing. Adam didn't either which only made Faye even more frustrated and annoyed.

"For god's sake it has to be here somewhere," Faye exclaimed frustrated. "We should use magic to help us find it." Faye told Adam.

"No Faye, let's just go we've used enough magic here today as it is, I don't want us using lots of magic which Lucas or Ryder might be able to pick up and trace back to us. Who knows what they might do to us if they knew we'd been in their room, rooting through their things. We've done a lot of magic already, we can't do more." Adam told Faye, hoping she would take the hint. He didn't want to put Faye in danger, he didn't want Lucas or Ryder to discover what they had done and come after Faye. He knew Lucas had a bad temper; he didn't want any harm to come to Faye.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"This is so boring," Cassie groaned as the second hour passed and Mr. Sanders still refused to leave the local Library. "What could be taking him so long?"

Jake looked through his binoculars toward the window from his car. "I'm not sure but I think he is trying to get some books he does not have in the library.

"We will just have to be patient," Diana said.

"Yeah I know, I am just getting restless," Cassie pouted. "I mean, it's a beautiful day to hang out and we are stalking a creeper. Wait; doesn't that make us the true creepers?"

Diana and Jake looked at each other for a moment.

"Maybe but he is a professional creeper so he still outrank us," Diana said.

"That's a comforting thought, thanks," Cassie said chuckling.

"He is leaving," Jake said interrupting them.

Cassie and Diana looked at the entrance and saw Mr. Sanders walking down the stars and then getting on his own car before driving off. The friends looked at each other before following.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

As the three walked out of _Natures Backyard, _a jewelry stand caught Melissa's eye, and she immediately walked over to it, admiring the handmade pieces. Dylan began to walk after her when Claire grabbed his shoulder.

"Hey I need to talk to you."

"Okay?"

"I'm not so sure we should be blindly following Lucas and Ryder anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I don't want Melissa dead, but those two do. We shouldn't trust them as much anymore. Keep them at a distance."

"I'm already ahead of you on that one."

"I love our brothers, but this mission they're on? Whatever daddy Blackwell was doing, whatever this is, it's bad business. We really need to try and stay out of it."

"But how? Lucas and Ryder won't take no for an answer."

"We can find ways around them."

"Alright sis, if you think you know what you're doing, I'm in."

"Good. Now one more thing?"

"Yeah?"

"She's so out of your league." Claire said gesturing to Melissa who was walking back towards them.

"Claire, hold out your hand and close your eyes."

"Uhm... Okay?" Claire asked hesitantly, but doing as Melissa said.

The older girl then placed a hemp necklace in the younger girls hand, the pendant dangling from the center was a hand blown glass tear drop, and inside was a pink star shape with drops of blue surrounding it.

"Oh gosh it's so pretty!" Claire said excitedly fingers already working at the clasp to put it on.

"I thought you'd like it." Melissa said back

"Thanks Melissa, really." Claire beamed up at her.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Where else could they hide a damn book in this crappy little motel room?" Faye asked as she looked around the small messy room. Adam stood up looking over to Faye from the other side of the room,

"Help me lift the mattress," he told her, getting a face in response.

"Gross, you do not know how many people have had sex on that," she said and Adam rolled his eyes.

"Do you want to find the book or not?" He asked and Faye moved over to the bed.

"Hurry up then," she said as she leant down, together they lifted the mattresses one by one until they were at the last bed.

Leaning down they lifted it up and Faye groaned as they saw nothing there.

"This is so annoying," she said turning around to look around the room. "We have looked everywhere in this stinking room and there is no book. What if they took it with them?" she asked and waited for a response from Adam. When she didn't get one she turned to look at him.

Adam was knelt on the floor next to the bed they had just turned over, there was a floorboard pulled up and Adam was staring into the hole in the floor. Faye walked over leaning down beside Adam and smiled.

"Bingo," she muttered as Adam slipped his hand in to grab the book. He checked it over quickly before moving the floorboard back into place.

"Lets get out of here," He said, grabbing Faye's hand and pulling her towards the door. Once they got there Adam opened the door slowly and looked around before he and Faye rushed to the car.

Just as they got into the car, they saw two figures heading towards the car park and Faye hit Adam on the arm. Seeing the two Adam froze hoping they wouldn't look in Faye and Adam's direction, but of course they did.

"Quick, go," Faye told Adam as Lucas and Ryder started running over to the truck. Adam quickly set the car in motion and they sped out of the car park leaving Lucas and Ryder stood there angrily watching them drive away. Once they had been driving for a few minutes, Faye looked over to Adam. They had both panicked a little when they had seen Lucas and Ryder coming towards them but they were both fine now, although Adam had an almost death grip on the steering wheel. Leaning over Faye kissed his cheek and she saw his hands relax a little causing her to smile. Faye started to kiss along his jaw and back to his ear before trailing kisses down his neck.

"Faye I'm trying to drive here," he told her keeping his eyes on the road.

"So...?" she said in between kisses,

"So... you're distracting and I don't want to crash."

"Then pull over," she told him simply before going back to her kisses as Adam pulled the truck over.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Nice house," Cassie muttered.

They looked through the car's window toward Mr. Sanders house as he closed his front porch door. It was around the same width as Cassie's house but it just had one floor. Also, the walls were dark green. It also had fewer windows than her house but Cassie could see Mr. Sanders through one of them right now. He was pulling something from its backpack she couldn't see well. Cassie frowned and took out her I Phone and clicked on zoom to get a better at the object and then take a picture. As if on cue Mr. Sander closed the windows afterwards.

"Well, what did you took a picture of?" Diana asked.

Cassie frowned puzzled and bewildered. "I'm not sure."

She then showed them a green circular pendant not wider than tennis ball with the engraving of a bear in its dead center.

"What could that be?" Diana asked blinking.

"I may have an idea," Jake said looking interested.

Cassie raised an eyebrow as not many things give Jake that interested look.

"Do share," She urged.

"Back when I was a witch hunter I studied a bit of Native American magic," He began. "Apparently it is very different from our own. Most tribe members could use their branch of magic called Shamanism if they learned to focus enough on the forces of nature to drawn external energy toward their bodies. It didn't have much to do with magical bloodlines," He claimed. "However, if you want an analogy I guess you might say that the regular magic users were like Voodoo practitioners in the sense they lack a magical core but can still use magic to a degree while true shamans are like true witches in the sense they can do both but still like to use the elements more."

Jake looked at the pendant again. "That design is clearly Native American, of some northern tribe but not sure which," He murmured. "For a long time, the bear has been associated with the awakening of the consciousness in shamanist magic and since the pendant is made of jade, which is associated with love, I guess it is one of those rare magical artifacts that are design to produce a physically personification of the consciousness of someone so that it may convince the person to be nicer to the people said person loves," He explained.

Cassie looked even more confused after that information. "Why would he have something like that?"

She then turned to Diana and both saw and felt her sudden shock.

"What is it?" She asked getting worried.

Diana looked at Cassie for a long moment before sending her the memories of her encounter with that strange British girl the day she was mean to her. _'And then she was just gone,'_ Diana thought.

Cassie sat there dumbfounded.

"Hello?" Jake asked somewhat annoyed. "Non-telepathic people here."

Diana the turned to Jake and explained to him.

"Wait, so Sanders created that girl so you would be a better sister to Cassie?" Jake asked blinking.

"Pretty much," Diana nodded. "At least that is my best theory."

"But if that's true then he really knows for sure we are witches and that we have Dark magic," Cassie said suddenly getting worried. "Seriously what does king creeper wants?"

"No idea but I think we should be more careful around him and keep a closer eye to him," Jake said.

The sisters nodded and Jake drove off.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Bye" Melissa says leaning to give Claire a hug; Claire gave her a big squeeze, whispering goodbye in Melissa's ear.

"I had a great day" Claire told her smiling as Melissa walked over to give Dylan a quick hug, which was a bit awkward for Dylan.

"See you soon," Dylan said to Melissa who smiled in return.

"Yeah today was great thanks you guys, you really cheered me up today," Melissa told them before turning around and heading towards her house. She walked up her drive turned round and quickly waved to Claire and Dylan before going inside, into the warm.

"Bye" Claire and Dylan shouted as she shut the door.

Melissa went to put her coat and bag away, slowly humming to herself as she went, she could hardly keep the smile off her face. She'd had an amazing day with Claire and Dylan, they were both great friends. One of the best things was it had sort of shown her that she didn't need Adam or a boyfriend to be happy. She just needed great friends; which she had. Not just in Claire and Dylan but she also had Diana, Cassie and her circle.

Today had made such an improvement on Melissa's mood, she was happier then she had been in ages. All thanks to Claire and Dylan. She knew they were always there for her. As she walked up to her room she tried to think of things to do with them, places they could visit. She was sick of moping around after Adam, she decided that she was going to get out more and enjoy life! After all she was still young, there's no point getting all upset over boys at this age, she should just be enjoying her life and not taking things so seriously.

Melissa went and sat down, thinking about the things they had gotten up to today. She'd had so much fun and so had Claire and Dylan. She wasn't going to forget this day, ever. These happy memories would stay with here forever.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Jake was looking through Cassie's boxes of movies as Cassie and Diana made popcorn. "Okay, you really need to organize these things," Jake said and Cassie laughed.

"I said the same thing. Want to help one of these days?' Cassie asked walking into the living room with the popcorn followed by Diana.

"Sure, so what movie do you girls want to watch?" Jake asked.

"Actually, it's getting late and I'm tired. I'm going to head to bed, but you two have fun." Diana said then thought to Cassie _'I'll let the two of you be alone.'_

_'Thanks,'_ Cassie thought back as Diana ran up the stairs. "What do you want to watch?" Cassie decided it was better to let Jake choose the movie. Jake held up a movie from the box. "Catch me if you can? Seriously?'

"Yeah, it was a good movie. I like the way the guy in the movie was able to trick everyone into thinking he was a doctor and pilot and stuff. That guy was good. Is there something else you would want to watch?"

"No, put the movie in." Cassie sat down on the couch as Jake got the movie into the DVD player and then sat next to her.

The two were silent as the movie started and just watched completely absorbed by the movie. Then their hands touched as they both reached for the popcorn. They both pulled away really fast and then looked at each other. The two realized how extremely close they were on the couch. At that point Cassie shivered.

"Are you cold?" Jake asked.

"A little," Cassie said. "I'll be fine."

"Come here." Jake didn't give Cassie a choice as he pulled Cassie close to him. Jake lay down across the couch and held Cassie on top of him. Then he used his magic to move the blanket that was on the chair not too far away so it was on top of them. "Is that better?"

"Yeah," Cassie whispered as she lay her head on Jake's chest and looked at the TV. She found herself unable to watch the movie though. She liked this movie she did, but all she could think about was how close the two were. That she could hear Jake's heart beating in his chest if she listened closely. That she felt his chest go up and down each time he took a breath. The feeling of wanting to kiss Jake returned and it took all her will power not too. He probably wasn't ready yet. Not so soon after he broke up with Faye.

"How did the potion thing go anyway?" Jake asked. He too was way too distracted to watch the movie that he chose. All she kept thinking about was the girl he held in his arms and he really wanted to know if that potion had worked.

"Great," Cassie answered. "I'm over Adam finally. I don't love him anymore."

"That's good," Jake said and tried to hid the small smile on his face.

"What about you and Faye? Are you going to fight for her?" Cassie asked wanting to know about her chances.

"I don't think so. She made her choice and I don't feel like fighting for her." Jake said. Cassie hid her smile by hiding her face in Jake's shirt.

"That's good. You don't need her."

"I know," Jake whispered so low Cassie didn't even hear him.

Cassie didn't know what else to say so she looked back at the movie. The movie was about half done, but she still couldn't find herself getting into it. She buried her head into Jake's shirt again and took a breath. She loved the way he smelled and she closed her eyes letting herself enjoy the smell. Soon she found herself getting sleepily and it wasn't long later before she was asleep and dreamed of Jake.

Jake realized when Cassie fell asleep and looked down at the girl. She was so cute when she slept. Jake knew he should just take her up to her room and then leave, but Jake found himself unwilling to do that. Cassie fit perfectly in his arms and it felt right just laying here. The couch was comfortable and he was getting pretty tired. Jake held Cassie closer to him and bent down to kiss her on the cheek. Jake swears he saw Cassie smile when he did that and a smile appeared on his face too. Jake closed his eyes. It wasn't long later Jake himself fell asleep dreaming of Cassie.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye sat flicking through the book of shadows whilst Adam made her a cup of coffee.

"Thanks" Faye muttered when Adam put her cup down in front of her.

"You found anything yet?" he asked hopeful, he knew how much Faye wanted this.

"No" she sighed unhappy, there must be something in the Balcoin's book of shadows to help them, and she just knew it was the key to them succeeding.

Adam sat down next to her and started to scan the pages as well, trying to help. They were looking for anything to do with the crystal skull. They read through a lot of the book before they found anything about it Faye was getting more and more frustrated as they went on. She was desperate to find the answer and wasn't being very patient. There were a couple of pages explaining about what the skull did and how much power it possessed. Some passages told horrible stories of what the skull had done to people, Faye and Adam did their best to ignore these though.

Faye was just about to give up when Adam finally found what they had been looking for, a spell which would help them.

"I've got it!" he told Faye excited,

"Read this," he ordered passing her the book and pointing to the page. Faye quickly read the page which contained a spell which would enable someone to extract magic from the skull. It told them that this simple spell would enable them to take nearly all the power from the skull; it would be absorbed by their own magic. This would make both Adam and Faye incredibly strong witches.

"I can't believe we've finally found a way to get more magic" Faye told Adam excited. "I couldn't off done this without you," she whispered before leaning up to passionately kiss Adam. Overjoyed by what he had discovered in the book of shadows.

"This spell is perfect," Faye told them after re-reading it again for about the 30th time, she still couldn't believe they'd finally found a way to do it.

"Yeah it is" Adam agreed "It explains exactly how to extract the magic from the skull." He told her excited. "Yeah, we have to do this soon; I don't think I can wait long. I'm finally going to have the power I deserve" Faye said excitedly, "You are too of course," She added on as an afterthought.

Faye spent the rest of the day bubbling with excitement. Adam had agreed that they would perform the spell together soon, as long as they were careful. Faye had assured him they would both be fine. How wrong she was!

**Anon review replies:**

**Guest: thank you!**

**Olivia: You never know... I mean, Cassie was unaffected by the elixir because of dark magic, and now that Adam has similar magic coursing through his veins... things could happen. Just sayin'**

**Also, this is mostly a filler chapter, but I can assure you that the next chapter will be full of action and excitement. It is the midseason finale, after all!**


	11. Release

**Plotline writers – Forcystus5, xleamalfoyx, Coralinas, thefallenloveoflife, flower gettin' lady**

**Writers – Coralinas, Forcystus5, CharmedMilliE, ilove2dance, luisa Mendoza, thefallenloveoflife, witch-witha-B, TtylerMaria**

**Editors – flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B, Your Sister. Duh**

**Graphic Designers – xleamalfoyx, Charlene F.**

**Twitter Account – ImaGleekBaby,**

**Tumblr Account – witch-witha-B,**

**The twitter account is TSC_Project and the tumblr account is The Secret Circle Project. We also have a facebook page, you can find it by searching The Secret Circle Project.**

**Disclaimer: We don't own The Secret Circle**

**A/N: At the end of this chapter we've taken the time to answer reviews from anons, and we encourage everyone to get an account on so we can send you PMs in reply to reviews. We love feedback and criticism, so please keep the reviews coming!**

**ATTENTION: This is our midseason finale, which means we wont' be updating for the next few weeks, as we have to plan out the second half of the season more extensively. Please check our tumblr, twitter, and facebook for more updates. Also, feel free to suggest ideas and ask questions. **

Episode 11 – "Release"

The abandoned house was quiet and Circle-free when Adam and Faye finally reached it. Adam was going over the list of ingredients for the spell, saying one out loud every other minute. Faye had no idea what any of them were, so he'd told her to get some of the deep, red-black crystals that were somewhere with the other rocks. He'd said they were used as some sort of protection in case the spell went wrong.

"These?" Faye asked, holding up a few. He nodded, rooting through the various planters on the opposite side of the room. She pocketed the crystals, coming over to where he was. "Why won't you let me help you with the herbs?"

"Because you never bothered to learn their names."

"No, because I'm not boring." She reciprocated. There was tension between them, and it wasn't the good kind.

He ignored her last comment. "I have everything we need. We should leave it at the Boathouse."

"Why?"

He gave her that know-it-all look, one that she normally saw on Diana. "We should go to school so it's less suspicious. If we're absent one day—yesterday, that is—people will assume it was because of sex." Faye nodded. "If we're gone two days they'll start to wonder… well, the Circle will."

"So we go, come back home, and then do the spell?"

"Exactly."

They drove in silence to the Boathouse, where they dropped off the herbs and crystals. Then they were off to school without looking back.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Diana was in the kitchen making French toast for breakfast. She was humming to herself as she cooked. "Hey," Diana heard and turned around to see Cassie standing at the doorway. Her sister was still in the clothes she wore yesterday, but they were a mess and her hair had the just crawled out of bed look. "Where's..." Cassie stopped herself, but Diana knew what she was about to ask.

"Jake woke up earlier then you and left. I offered him French toast for breakfast, but the boy said no." Diana said and then laughed. "Looks like you guys had nice night." Cassie didn't say anything as Diana put French toast on a plate for her. "So what did you guys do?"

Cassie sat down and poured her syrup on top. She started to eat and refused to answer Diana, but she was thinking of last night. She remembered once again falling asleep in Jake's arm and realized how great of asleep she got in his arms. A smile came on Cassie's face. "Come on. I need more than that." Diana said having seen Cassie's memories. "Tell me everything."

"No," Cassie said blocking Diana out of the thoughts from last night. For some reason last night seemed like something special to Cassie. Something she didn't want to share with Diana just yet.

"Come on," Diana said giving Cassie the puppy dogs eyes. "Please, I'm your best sister after all."

Cassie laughed. "There's not much competition there. It's only Claire and while the younger Balcoins aren't that bad she's nowhere near as good as you. You're the best sibling I have." Diana smiled. "But I'm not telling you what happened last night." Diana's smile fell. "Don't give me that look. It's not much anyway, but I just want to keep it to myself for now."

"Okay," Diana said, understanding but kind of sad her sister wouldn't tell her anything.

"I will tell you that I have a chance with Jake." Diana gave Cassie a look. "You might be seeing him around here a lot more if things go good."

"You mean more then I already do," Diana joked and Cassie laughed as she finished her breakfast.

"You might want to hurry up and finish. We've got to get to school," Cassie said.

"I'm working on it and you better go get changed. You don't want to go to school in your clothes from yesterday do you? People might get the wrong idea." Cassie looked down and then ran up the stairs to get changed while Diana laughed.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

The moment she woke up, Melissa just felt like it was going to be a wonderful day. At the fair with Dylan and Claire she'd decided that she was going to forget about Adam and try to worry more about herself. She deserved to be happy, didn't she? Sun was shining through her curtains in a very cliché way, and it made her feel like her idea had been a good one.

Throwing her covers haphazardly off the bed, she swung her legs over the edge and onto the ground. She wanted to find something pretty to wear, something that reflected her mood. Digging through her closet, she soon found a beige top with flower embroidery along the neck, sleeves, and hemline. It took her only a few minutes to find the perfect jewellery for it; large, chunky metal flowers that were attached to make a stylish necklace and a similar ring, except that it was made of little metal butterflies. She piled her hair, still curly from the day before, on the top of her head so that tiny curls framed her face.

"Wow." Her dad whistled as she skipped cheerily downstairs. "You look gorgeous today, Melissa."

"I feel gorgeous." She replied teasingly.

"I'm very glad to hear that."

"Did you ever just wake up and feel like everything was going to go exactly how you wanted it?" Melissa asked her. When he nodded, she said, "Well, I feel like that today. It's really nice."

He just laughed at her, planting a kiss on the top of her head as he walked out of the kitchen. Melissa grabbed an organic muffin from the counter, and then ran upstairs to get her bag. Moments later she was running past her dad with a quick, "Bye!"

As she jumped in the car she realized she still had some time before she had to leave. Smiling, she turned on the car and headed in the direction of the nearest coffee shop.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

'_Remind me again why we're walking?_ Cassie thought grumpily as they trudged along down the sidewalk.

"Because we need exercise." Diana said out loud. "And you don't need to think, it's not there's anyone else here to hear us."

Cassie laughed. "Sorry, it's gotten to be such a habit that I can't really tell the difference."

"That could get confusing for the rest of the Circle." Diana said.

Before she could answer Cassie found herself being roughly stopped by Ryder, who nearly shoved her over in his attempts to make her cease walking. Similarly, Lucas jumped out from nowhere and grabbed Diana's arm.

"What the hell?!" Cassie yelped, stepping away from Ryder.

"You stole the Balcoin Book of Shadows." Lucas hissed darkly.

"What?" Diana asked. "The Balcoin Book of Shadows?"

"Was it Blackwell's?" Cassie asked, unable to stop her curiosity.

"Yes, you idiot!" snarled Ryder. "It was, and you stole it!"

Cassie shook her head vehemently. "No, we didn't. I didn't even know there was one!"

"That's obviously a lie." Lucas said. It was like he'd gone from white-hot anger to calm, seething sort of rage. Diana couldn't decide which she found more frightening.

Lucas and Ryder both backed away for a second, and both girls thought that maybe they weren't in danger after all. Then both Ryder and Lucas said a single word and Cassie and Diana went flying.

Cassie groaned, sitting up and trying to regain her bearings. Lucas and Ryder were closing in on her and Diana was sprawled on the pavement a few feet away. _'Diana?'_

'_Yeah, I'm fine.' _Diana thought, quickly getting to her feet. Cassie did the same.

'_Should we run or fight?'_

'_I think we have to fight, I don't want them to follow us to school.'_ Diana told Cassie silently.

The two girls joined hands, hoping they could gain enough power through each other's strength and magic. Then they flung the strongest spell they could manage in the direction of Lucas and Ryder.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Melissa stirred her coffee lazily with a straw, waiting for the woman at the cash register to give her change for her ten dollar bill. She still had plenty of time to spare before she had to be at school, and she thought she might even sit down for a while and just enjoy the alone time. As she accepted her money and turned she scanned the room for a free table. That was when her line of vision landed on a particular one, occupied by two familiar faces. "Hey, Claire! Dylan!"

The younger Balcoins faces' lit up at the sight of Melissa, and they motioned for her to come over. She slid into the booth next to Dylan, smiling bright at both of them. "Hey guys, you like this place too?"

"Yeah… we came here because we needed something to eat." Claire explained.

"We've been meaning to talk to you about that." Dylan added. "We would have called you, but we don't stay in the motel anymore and that's the only place we had access to a phone."

"You don't?" Melissa asked incredulously. "That's great! …. that is great, right?"

Claire giggled. "Yes, it's great. The thing is, we were kind of afraid of what Lucas and Ryder might do to us. That's technically bad, but we did get out in time."

"Why, what happened?"

Dylan grimaced, as though the memory was painful to even recall. "Lucas and Ryder found the Balcoin Book of Shadows—" Melissa was surprised, but said nothing, "—and then the next day it was gone. They blamed us, saying we stole it. We didn't, of course." He added quickly.

"They didn't hurt us, but they were so angry," said Claire. "I think if we'd stayed they might have done something bad. They wouldn't have killed us, but it wouldn't have been good."

Melissa nodded. "It's good that you got out. Where are you staying now?" when both siblings lowered their heads and glanced at each other, she added, "I won't tell anyone, I promise."

"We spent our last money on food." Dylan admitted. "It wouldn't have been enough for a place to stay, so we figured we might as well eat."

"That's awful!" Melissa said, sympathetic at once. "I don't want you guys to be homeless."

"We'll be fine." Said Claire. "Really, we can use magic to construct some sort of hut in the woods or something. I bet we could even forge money with magic."

Melissa shook her head, smiling at a past memory. "Nope, you can't. Trust me, Faye tried it once and it did _not _go well for her at all."

"Oh." Dylan said. "Well, we'll still figure something out."

"Wait…" Melissa trailed off, thinking. "What if you guys stayed at my house? My dad won't mind."

"Really?" Both seemed happy at the prospective of not having to sleep in the woods.

"Really." She turned and dug through her purse, pulling out a key. "Here, you can head there after you eat. I Have a feeling school isn't' safe, since Lucas and Ryder know you like going there."

She bid them goodbye, since she still had to go to school, and left them chattering happily over their food. She'd been right to think it was going to be a good day; she had two new roommates that were some of her best friends, and they'd finally decided that they didn't want to be involved with dark magic.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Diana was stumbling backwards, having been hit by another one of Lucas' blows. Even though she had Cassie, they couldn't quite beat Lucas and Ryder. It was like the four were so evenly matched there was no way to win. Of course, with the mind link she and Cassie had a tiny advantage.

'_WATCH OUT!' _Diana thought. She saw Cassie cringe at the loudness of the thought as she ducked. _'Sorry.'_

'_Yeah, no problem. Ryder's headed your way, just so you know.'_

Diana rose up her arms to send another surge of magic at him when out of nowhere a blurred shape tackled him. She blinked, thinking she had imagined it. But no, Ryder was lying on the ground struggling underneath what appeared to be Jake.

"Try fighting the normal way, will you?!" Jake snapped, shielding his face from magical blows as he punched Ryder.

Diana stood there for a moment longer before running to Cassie side. With two against one they managed to gain ground on him, and soon he called to Ryder, who threw off Jake and dashed down the street after his brother. "Don't think we're not coming back for the book!" Lucas called threateningly over his shoulder.

Jake was at Cassie's side the minute he got up, pulling her to her feet and dusting bits of dirt from her jacket. Diana refrained from teasing.

"Are you alright?" Jake asked, glancing at Diana as well. Both girls nodded. "What book were they talking about?"

"The Balcoin Book of Shadows." Cassie told him. "Apparently we stole it even though we have no idea what it is."

"There's really such a thing as the Balcoin Book of Shadows?" Jake asked. "As in—"

"—John Blackwell's Book of Shadows? Yeah, it's probably his." Diana finished. "Which means if they get it back, we're probably screwed. Who knows what kind of spells are in it?"

"Yes, true, but from the looks of it they might kill you before they ever find it." Jake pointed out. "And before you start to argue, you should know that I won't take no for an answer."

"An answer to what?"

He said, "I'm walking you to school in case you get attacked again."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye and Adam walk into school hand in hand and almost immediately get bombarded by the rest of the Circle about their disappearing act the day before.

"We were looking for you for ages yesterday where were you?" Diana had asked.

"You weren't at school so we checked the Boathouse and no one had heard from you," Cassie had also said at the same time.

Melissa was simply leant back against her locker looking a little bored, she was the only one who hadn't been looking for Faye and Adam yesterday, and honestly, was it anyone else's business where and what Faye and Adam were doing? It wasn't as if a demon had attacked or there were witch hunters about. From what she heard it was usual day to day drama.

As Cassie and Diana kept firing questions at Faye and Adam, Faye got a little sick of their questions and raised a hand distracting Cassie and Diana and shutting them up.

"Finally," Adam muttered, getting a few strange looks from everyone, including Faye.

"Okay stop with the questions," Faye told them. "As far as I can see no one got hurt or killed, so what is with the drama?" she asked, causing Cassie to roll her eyes.

"You would know what was going on if you were around," She told Faye and everyone saw the makings of a Faye and Cassie showdown appearing.

"Oh I'm sorry Princess," she told Cassie in a sickeningly sweet tone, putting her hand over her heart. "I didn't know you would miss us so much. We were doing other, more important things that are none of your business. But I'm sure your new bodyguard made things better," she said, sending a small glare at Jake.

It was the first time the two had seen each other since the break up and Faye would not let anyone know how difficult it was for her to have him stood there in school with Cassie. So as was the normal Faye hid behind her bitchy attitude and no one knew the difference.

Cassie was about to open her mouth to retort when Diana spoke.

"Look guys, we really need to talk after school," she said, having a quick look around the halls. "We had a run in with Lucas and Ryder this morning, and it looks like they are looking for a fight."

"Sorry, can't," Faye said quickly, and Diana gave her a disbelieving look. "Sorry Lady Di, but we have some important business to attend to after school, tonight is a very important night."

Melissa let out a small sigh, un-noticed by any of the others, and stood up walking over to some guys the other side of the hall. One of the guys was cute and she was pretty sure he was in their folklore class and possibly some others.

Diana was the first one to notice Melissa's absence. "Wait, where did Melissa go?" she asked, and everyone started looking around. Cassie was the one to spot her and point her out.

"She's over there talking to a bunch of guys," Cassie told them a slight crease in her forehead.

"Wow..." Diana said simply. "I think that day off yesterday did her good."

"Wait, so Melissa wasn't in yesterday either," Faye said. "But you decide to grill us and not her? She hangs round with the evil twins, not us."

"They aren't evil," Diana told her pulled her attention from Melissa, who was flirting with one of the guys.

"Oh and you would know that because...?" Faye said

"Because we met up with them the other week," Cassie told her, causing Faye, Adam and Jake to focus on Cassie.

"Wait you met up with the twins?" Jake asked but before Cassie could answer Faye butted in,

"Chill out action man," she told Jake, causing Adam to smirk a little. "They want to meet up with their evil siblings let them, it's not as if they tried to kill any of us or anything," Faye told them sarcastically, and Cassie rolled her eyes again.

Jake had a small frown on his face as he thought what Faye said through.

"They honestly are nice," Diana told them all. "Just because Lucas and Ryder are evil and hot-headed doesn't mean that Claire and Dylan are, they're just kids and they have been pulled away from their home and their Mother because of Lucas and Ryder. They were younger than we were when we found out about our magic, so cut them some slack okay?"

"Whatever, I'm hungry," Faye said. "See you losers in class," she said as she and Adam headed off to the Cafeteria.

"Are those two joined at the hip or something?" Jake asked, not meaning for it to come out loud.

"Jealous?" Cassie asked, trying not to sound worried that Jake may still have feelings for Faye.

"Pensive," Jake said quietly. Cassie tilted her head in question. "Thoughtful," he clarified.

"You know you really didn't have to come into school," Cassie told him. "If anything happens with Lucas and Ryder, we have the rest of the Circle here and Mrs. Chamberlain if things got too messy."

Jake simply shrugged still looking a little thoughtful "Nothing else to do," he said. "Want me to stick around and walk you two home in case they attack again?" he asked as Cassie looked over to Diana who shrugged.

"I don't think so," Cassie said. "It would look weird having you hang about and I don't want to worry Mrs. Chamberlain. I'm sure we'll be fine," she told him and Jake nodded.

"Alright, I'll leave you to it," he said, heading towards the entrance of the school.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

The library was getting pretty loud. Mr. Sanders had brought them there to give them the period to work on their essays, but then went to his office to work on paperwork. The Circle was sitting at one of the tables. Diana had a book on the Salem Witch Trials open and was looking through it, but besides that no one else was working. Faye was basically on top of Adam's lap and the two had been kissing for a while.

"Melissa, how long do you think they can go like that before having to come up for air," Cassie asked. She had a smile on her face because she was really happy she could look at Adam kissing someone and not care at all. The 'written in the stars" romance was over and Cassie felt like celebrating.

"I don't know," Melissa said. She too couldn't care about Adam and Faye showing off their relationship. She had been talking to a cute boy before and was thinking her crush on Adam was over. "Maybe Faye used some spell to make it that they didn't need air." The girl whispered causing Cassie to laugh.

"I can totally see that," Cassie said. "By the way I saw you talking to a boy before. What's going on there?"

"Nothing," Melissa said with a smile.

"I know that look. Melissa and..." Cassie stopped realizing she didn't know the boys name "cute boy sitting in a tree, K I S-"

"Oh, what are we, five?" Melissa said throwing a piece of paper at Cassie. The blonde witch ducked it and it hit a guy at the next table. The guy turned around and Cassie pointed at Melissa barely able to hold back a laugh. The guy took a piece of paper and threw it at the witch, but Melissa was able to duck. Suddenly a couple of people were throwing paper balls at each other.

"How did we start a paper fight?" Cassie asked with a laugh sitting back down. Melissa herself was laughing and shook her head.

"Does anyone care about this essay at all?" Diana asked looking around at her friends. Faye and Adam were still making out and Melissa and Cassie were just about to continue to joke around with each other some more. "I mean seriously."

"We have a while to work on it." Melissa said, but Diana gave her a look. Melissa knew that look from having grown up to Diana. "Fine, what did you find out?"

"Well did you know that the accused witches had to pay for nice cells and stuff while in jail. If they didn't or couldn't pay they were put in standing room only cells." Diana said looking at Cassie and Melissa not even bothering with Faye and Adam.

"So the witch feet got really tired," Cassie joked causing Melissa to laugh and Diana to look at her. "Fine that was horrible. Learn anything about our families or the other Circles?" Cassie whispered the last part so only Melissa and Diana could hear

"No, a lot of people left Salem during the witch trials to get away, but so far no luck learning anything about our families." Diana answered.

"STUDENTS," they heard and turned around to find Mr. Sanders had just walked back in. "I leave you alone for a while expecting you to act like adults and this is what I come back to."

'Looks like creeper is back. I wonder if he brought British girl with him,' Cassie thought to Diana making her sister look at her. 'Fine, I'll shut up.' Cassie understood her sister didn't want to think about that right here in front of Mr. Sanders. Truthfully they had no idea what was going on with him at all.

"Mr. Conant, Ms. Chamberlain, please stop that." Mr. Sanders finally said seeing the two. Faye pulled apart looked at their teachers and then sat down at a chair. Mr. Sanders walked away.

"So what did we miss?" Faye asked.

Cassie, Diana, and Melissa looked at each other. "Well we decided to run an experiment to see how long you could go without air," Cassie said, making Melissa and Diana laugh and Adam and Faye just stare at her, confused.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie and Diana were walking back to Cassie's house. They were only a few houses away and were chatting with each other through their link._ 'Damn, you know Mr. Sanders is a real creeper. What's with him?'_ Cassie asked her sisters. They had been talking about classes and somehow whenever they talked about school the subject of Sanders being a creeper comes up.

_'I don't know, but since I found out he made that British girl I've been totally freaked'_ Diana said. _'Can we not talk about this? How about we talk about something else? Like the way Jake is super protective of you.'_ Diana had a smile on her face as she thought of this morning.

_'Jake has always been super protective. Ever since he left the witch hunters. It doesn't mean anything.'_ Cassie told her sister going up to her front door while looking through her bag for the keys.

_'He walked us to school. I don't think he did that just because of Lucas and Ryder. They were gone by then. He likes you and you..."_ Diana stopped as she felt panic come from Cassie through their bond. _'What's wrong?'_

_'The door is unlocked. I didn't leave it that way,'_ Cassie answered and neither of them had to say or even think it to each other. The first thing that came to their minds was Lucas and Ryder. Diana was by Cassie's side and took hold of her sisters hand. If their older brothers wanted a fight they would be ready this time. They would pull their magic together.

Opening up the door the two looked around, but they didn't see anyone. Then someone came out of the kitchen and Diana was very nearly ready to throw the person against the wall on sight but Cassie stopped her._ 'Wait, it's Jake,_' Cassie yelled in her head and Diana stopped right away. After a second she realized it was in fact Jake.

"Hey. Good you two are back and are safe." Jake said taking a bite out of the sandwich he had apparently made in the kitchen. "Hope you don't mind. I got hungry waiting for you two."

Diana was just staring at Jake. "Why are you here? I mean you just let yourself in with magic. We thought you were Lucas and Ryder. You freaked us out. We could have hurt you. You know why does everyone just let themselves in," Diana complained and Cassie laughed. Diana looked at her.

"Welcome to my world," Cassie said and Diana was confused for a minute before she realized she had just complained about the same exact thing Cassie had been complained about for a while. Diana laughed. 'Guess we're starting to sound alike huh.' Cassie added to Diana in her mind and the two girls continued to giggle.

"Sorry about breaking in, but it was either I wait for you here or I pick you up at school. I seriously thought about picking you up at school." Jake was looking at Cassie as he said this.

_'See he likes you.'_ Diana thought to her sister with a smile.

_'I never said he didn't. I told you this morning. If things go right we might be seeing more of him.'_ Cassie said taking a seat at the kitchen table.

_'Well remember when you two start dating we're going on a double date when Grant gets back.'_ Cassie stuck out her tongue at Diana, but Diana could tell Cassie didn't mind the idea. The two smiled at each other.

"Okay, I have a feeling I'm being left out of the conversation." Jake said looking at the two. "You do realize how rude that is since I'm standing right here."

"Sorry, it's gotten too easy to talk to each other like that. Sometimes we don't even realize we're using the link and not talking out loud." Cassie told Jake and then turned to Diana. There was no way any of that conversation was going to be told to Jake. "You realize all the way home we used the link when we could have just talked to each other."

"Oh yeah," Diana said. "Oh well. Whatever. You hungry Cassie?"

"Yeah," Cassie said as Diana went to the fridge to get back out the cold cuts Jake had put away. "Diana, do we have any..."

"So you are Diana." The voice made Cassie pause. She knew that voice all too well. She could also see Diana had frozen by her spot at the refrigerator. Jake had a death glare on his face as he looked at the kitchen door. The two sisters turned around to find their older brothers standing there. "I figured you might be Diana and not Stephanie after this morning. Thank you for confirming that." Ryder said with a smirk.

"What are you doing here?" Cassie asked standing up and getting next to Jake. Diana closed the refrigerator and joined the two. "We don't have this Balcoin Book of Shadows. We didn't even know it existed before this morning, so if you want to fight with us you need a better excuse then that."

Ryder held up his hands. "We don't want to fight. We just want to talk." Ryder looked at Lucas who nodded his agreement. 'I swear we won't hurt you. We couldn't find Claire and Dylan."

"They're probably with the kind witch," Lucas mumbled. Diana, Cassie, and Jake looked at each other knowing he meant Melissa and that they were probably right. While Diana and Cassie didn't mind the younger two Balcoins they weren't jumping to hang out with them all the time. It seemed like Melissa had somehow become like a surrogate big sister to the two and the three had choose not to comment on the relationship no matter how weird they found it.

"Yeah well, after thinking it over we decided it was unlikely they had the book and after your reaction we decided you didn't have it," Ryder said.

"So why are you here?" Diana asked.

"The fact is the Balcoin Book of Shadow's was stolen from us. We want to know if you'll help us find it," Ryder said.

Jake, Cassie and Diana looked at each other. "Why would we do that? So you can have a book full of dangerous spells?" Diana asked.

"There's nothing dangerous in it. We want it because its rightfully ours." Ryder said.

"The Balcoin Book of Shadow's belongs to the Balcoins and you're not the only Balcoins here," Jake told Ryder looking at Diana and Cassie. "But I think we should help them find it." Diana and Cassie looked at Jake surprised. "Someone did make a point of stealing it and I think I know who."

"Who?" Lucas and Ryder said together looking ready to kill whoever it was.

"It's just a theory, but Faye and Adam have been acting weird lately. They're always sneaking off together a lot. Maybe they have it." Jake said.

"He's got a point. I mean they were absent from school yesterday. Do you really think they spent the whole day in bed," Cassie said. "Although I guess Faye could go all day. I don't know about Adam though. That one time we were together it didn't seem like he could go on much longer."

"Cassie, shut up," Diana said with a laugh. 'By the way Adam can go on for a while." She then decided to add.

"I think I'm the one that's going to say shut up now. I don't want to hear about how good or bad Adam is in bed," Jake said and then looked at Cassie.

"Yeah, Jake's right. Why were we talking about Adam anyway?" Cassie said. "Oh yeah, possibility of Adam and Faye stealing the Balcoin Book of Shadows. I think it's possible. We should go to the Boathouse and see."

"Wait, can I get something straight here first," Ryder said making the three look at him. "This Adam guy either dated or just had sex with both of you." Diana and Cassie nodded. "Now he's dating this Faye girl who he might have stolen our Book of Shadows with?" They nodded again. "And I believe he's also the one that girl Claire and Dylan are always with was crying over." Cassie and Diana looked at each other not knowing that.

"Do you have a point in this?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, why wouldn't you two want to ditch your Circle and join ours? Yours seemed to have way too much drama in it." Ryder said.

"Maybe a little, but I don't love Adam anymore. Got rid of that." Cassie smiled at Diana as she said this telling the girl a quick thank you in her head again. "Diana has a new boyfriend and as for Melissa well... I don't know why she would cry over Adam. So do you want to go find this Book of Shadows or not."

Lucas and Ryder nodded and walked out. "By the way, Cassie, we're looking into a spell to keep uninvited guest out of this house later," Diana said.

"Good idea,' Cassie said.

"I'll help," Jake added and the three went to follow the two oldest Balcoins.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Claire, Dylan, what's up?" Melissa asked after waking into her room. Taking her bag off her shoulder she set it down and sat down looking at the two.

"Lucas and Ryder. They got super violent." Dylan replied

"I honestly was scared their threats were serious this time." Claire sobbed a little.

"What happened?!"  
"After the Book went missing, they blamed us."

"Are you two alright?"  
"Yeah, we're fine, we just needed to get out of there. Sorry, I hope it's alright we came." Claire replied

"Of course guys, you can come here anytime, Stay as long as you want. I promise you'll be safe."

"Thanks Melissa."  
"Hey, wanna have a Movie marathon?" Melissa asked

"Sure!" Claire said laughing

"ONLY, if it's a classic horror movie marathon!" Dylan chimed in

"We could compromise, Maybe a _Supernatural _Marathon?" Claire asked

"Maybe."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Is this far enough?" Faye asked, frustrated. She and Adam had been walking for nearly an hour. "What are the chances someone will ever find us and interrupt the spell?"

"Yes, it's far enough." He relented after a moment. He dropped his armload of herbs. "Okay, I'll set the skull on the ground and put the herbs that we need near it. You start with those crystals.

Faye nodded. She took the blackish-red crystals they'd gotten from the abandoned house and began to string them together. According to the spell to get what the skull wanted, the black-red crystals would protect the wearers from any strong magical surges. She hoped that nothing bad would happen. The crystals were just in case, that was all.

Adam finished arranging the various herbs he'd gotten around the skull. It looked almost like a demented wreath-like necklace around the thing's non-existent neck. Faye shuddered.

"Ready?" Adam asked.

Faye wanted to say no, but she didn't. "Yes."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie, Diana, Jake, Lucas, and Ryder walked into the Boathouse and looked around. There were the normal guest there eating, but Adam and Faye were nowhere to be found. Behind the counter was Ethan Conant looking a bit drunk. "Who's talking to the alcoholic?" Jake asked.

"I will. Ethan seemed to like me for some reason," Cassie said.

'It's because you look like your mom. Remember lost love of his life. Ethan spent our whole childhood talking about how he lost Amelia,' Diana thought to Cassie.

"Thank Di," Cassie said out loud not realizing Diana had said that in her head.

"Diana didn't say anything," Ryder said looking at the two. Cassie had a horrified look on her face when she realized what she had just done.

"Didn't you hear," Diana said confusing Ryder and Lucas. "I guess not. I just whispered to Cassie telling her she could do it and I would go with her if she wanted. Maybe you guys should get your ears checked."

"Okay,' Ryder said not exactly buying the excuse, but decided not to ask. It was their business and right now Ryder didn't feel like prying. "Well someone better go talk to him or I will."

"I got it," Cassie said walking up to the counter. "Mr. Conant."

"Cassie, what would you like?" Ethan said getting close up and Cassie could smell the bit of alcohol on his breath. "Of course anything for you is free."

"That's nice," Cassie said. "But actually I was looking for Adam and Faye. Are they in the back?"

Ethan laughed. "I don't know where Adam is. That's a million dollar question. He was supposed to come home after school to run this place, but never showed. Now I'm stuck running it when I could be in the back with this." Ethan held up a bottle of wine.

Cassie took the bottle and broke it on the table causing Ethan to look at her. "Get your life straightened out and stop putting everything on top of Adam. You're his father. You're supposed to take care of him. Not the other way around. You think my mom would have wanted you to do this." Cassie walked away leaving Ethan standing there shocked.

The blonde witch stormed out of the Boathouse followed by her sister, her older brothers, and Jake. "Cassie, you just said what everyone has wanted to say to Ethan for years. Congratulations," Diana said with a smile.

"So, where is player boy?" Lucas asked.

"Ethan doesn't know. Makes me think we're all right. Adam and Faye have the book. " Cassie said. "Adam wouldn't just abandon the Boathouse for no reason. They're up to something."

"Let's use a spell to find them," Ryder suggested.

"NO," Jake, Cassie and Diana said at the same time shocking the boys.

"That would take up to much time. The two are up to something," Diana said. "They probably went back to the abandoned house if they're doing a spell. All the herbs and stuff they would need would be there." Cassie and Jake agreed and the five of them started to walk away, but Jake held Cassie back.

"By the way Cassie. You were amazing in there," Jake whispered to her.

Cassie smiled at the compliment. "Um... Thanks. It was nothing." Jake smiled at Cassie and then walked ahead to catch up with the other three. Cassie stared for a minute and then ran after them.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye was chanting, the endless latin-esque words falling from her lips. She felt like she was in a trance. She couldn't even really tell what she was saying anymore, just that they were full of power.

She wanted to stop. They'd been at it for nearly thirty minutes and her whole body felt drained. She knew it was from the amount of magical energy the spell needed.

She continued anyway, until she saw the tiny black tendrils in the skull, whirling about ominously. "Adam…?"

"What?" he stopped his chanting to glare at her. "Faye, I don't think we should be stopping right now, what if the spell fails?"

"Look."

He glanced at the skull and nodded. "It means the spell is working, I'll bet." As if to prove his point the little black tendrils began to fade, folding in on themselves. He shot her an annoyed look and picked up his chanting where he'd left off.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

When they arrived at the abandoned house, the five split up to search the house fast. There were calls of not here and no and empty. "There's no one here," Diana finally said. "Where could they have gone?"

Everyone looked around, but no one had an answer and no one knew what to do. Cassie took out her cell phone. "Who are you calling? I don't think Adam or Faye will answer." Jake said.

"I'm not calling them. We need help." Cassie said as she pushed send and waited for the only person she trusted to help to answer.

"Cassie," Dawn said when she answered. "What's going on?"

"I need your help. We need your help," Cassie said. "We got way too far over our heads and we need you now."

"Okay," Dawn said a little confused. "Tell me what's wrong." So Cassie explained about the other four Balcoins siblings coming to town, about Mr. Sanders being a creeper, about Adam and Faye's strange new relationship, and finally about the Balcoin Book of Shadows going missing and about believing Faye and Adam took it. It felt good to finally tell Dawn everything that was going on and Cassie realized she should have done it sooner.

"I wished you'd come to me sooner, but am glad you finally told me." Dawn said. "But Faye's not here. I haven't seen her since this morning. We haven't been really talking lately."

"Since you told her you'd prefer me as a daughter?" Cassie asked.

"What? Did Faye tell you that?" Dawn asked.

"Yes."

"That's not what I said. I love you Cassie and would be happy if you were my daughter, but all I said was you were more well behaved then Faye." There was a paused for a moment. "I've got to force that girl to listen to me when we find her."

"What should we do?" Cassie asked.

"You, Diana, Jake, and your older brothers continue looking for Faye and Adam. I'm going to call an old friend and then start looking myself."

"Okay," Cassie said. "And Dawn." Cassie added before Dawn could hang up. "Thank you."

"For what?" Dawn asked.

"For everything. For being there for me. For being like a mother to me. You're the closest thing I have to a parent right now and just... Well thank you."

There was no respond for a while. "Cassie, it's the least I can do. Amelia was a good friend. I should have been there for you sooner." The two were silent. "Now go find Adam and Faye."

The two hung up and then Cassie looked at the other. "We're going to continue looking. Dawn is going to call an old friend and then look too."

"So where do we look?" Lucas said angry.

"The woods," Diana said and everyone looked at her. "They're not here, so the only other place I can think that they would cast a spell is in the woods. Surrounded by nature and all that stuff you know." Everyone nodded and walked out of the abandoned house.

"When we find those two I don't care about any truce. I'm going to kill them," Lucas said to Ryder but, everyone heard him. Cassie used her magic to knock Lucas on his butt. The boy gave Cassie a look.

"They're part of our Circle. We'll take care of them when we find them and you'll help if we need it. You will not be killing them." Cassie said clearly getting angry. Lucas looked ready to attack Cassie, but Ryder put a hand on his shoulder. Cassie was standing facing them with Diana and Jake by her side. They were outnumbered and out powered. This was not worth a fight and all they could get from this encounter was probably nothing.

"Of course," Ryder said deciding to defuse the situation. "Lucas just loses his temper at times. I'm sure you can understand that." Cassie choose not to respond to that. She did sometimes lose her temper. "We'll let you handle you're Circle members and help in any way you need. Of course we get what was stolen from us. That is rightfully ours."

"The Balcoin Book of Shadows rightfully belongs to all of us, so we'll see about returning it to you." Cassie said and Ryder nodded deciding it was best not to argue. He would get what he wanted after all. He was sure of it.

Cassie started to walk into the wood followed by Jake and Diana. Ryder and Lucas paused for a minute and then followed the others into the woods.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

When they finished the spell, the two were quiet for a moment. Neither of them knew what to expect but they knew that this was the thing they had to do. As soon as they had finished chanting the black smoke had disappeared.

"Do you think we stopped too soon?" Faye asked, but started coughing as black smoke filled the air. The smoke seemed to be coming from the eye sockets, nose, mouth and bottom of the skull. But because of the amount that was coming out they could barely see what was happening.

"It's working," Adam coughed and Faye was slightly confused, this wasn't the outcome she was expecting from the spell.

The smoke had started to die down and Faye gasped when she saw flesh starting to form on the skull, looking over to Adam she saw his look of shock. Once the head formed it seemed to rise into the air, a body forming underneath it. Arms and legs formed out of the smoke escaping the torso and Faye and Adam backed off a little.

This was most definitely not what they had been expecting, the skull wasn't alive. Well it hadn't been but now it seemed it was and it had a body. They watched in shock and slight awe as the skull continued to form into what looked like a normal human being.

As soon as the body was completely formed the 'skull' opened its eyes which automatically locked on Adam and Faye. Adam quickly moved in front of Faye. He didn't trust this thing, it must have been the skull and it was up to something again. But this time it wasn't going to hurt them.

The smirk that the 'skull' sent their way scared Adam and Faye. Every step it took towards them they took back until Faye's back was up against a tree and Adam's back was pressed against Faye's front. It then watched them still with the smirk on its face before raising a hand slightly then moving it back down causing both Adam and Faye to crumple to the ground.

"Thanks," It said before walking through the trees towards the town.

Around ten minutes later, Adam started stirring, feeling a dull pain in her left shoulder. Opening his eyes he looked around at the floor of the forest before he saw all the herbs and the Balcoin book open on the floor. Sitting up he looked around seeing Faye lying next to him still out of it. He leant down beside her and shook her slightly,

"Faye," he said quietly. "Faye come on, wake up."

After a minute or so, Faye groaned slightly finding it hard to wake up, she felt like she had no energy at all. Finally getting the motivation she opened her eyes and frowned slightly as Adam's face hovering above her.

"What happened?" she asked quietly, not remembering what had happened at all.

"I'm not sure," he told her. "Last thing I remember is the skull moving towards us."

"Not much of a skull anymore," she said to him with a small laugh as she tried to sit up with Adam's help. "I feel drained," she told him, and Adam nodded.

"I know what you mean," he told her as they both leant up against trees.

"What do you think it did to us?" She asked him.

"Well, all I know is it tricked us."

"Yeah but tricked us into what?" Faye asked. "The skull now has a body and it can move and do whatever it wants, including knocking us out and making us feel like crap."

"I don't know Faye!" Adam almost shouted. He was getting irritated and he was so angry that they had let the skull trick them "Maybe we should tell the others..."

"No way," Faye said, shocked. "Can you imagine what they would say to us? We would never live it down."

"Then what do we do?"

"I don't know, okay?"

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"_Okay, your turn, truth or dare?"_ A girl on the screen said

"Truth." Dylan predicted

"_Truth"_

"Told ya." Dylan smiled  
"Do you want to make out with Benji Swartz?" Two of the girls laughed  
"Dare." She changes her pick

"_Okay, lame. You have to...say "Bloody Mary" in the bathroom."  
"Is that the best you can come up with?" The dared girl asked._

"This episode is going to be lame!" Claire whined.

"It's not that bad." Melissa assured.

"Anyone want popcorn?" Dylan asked.

"Yes!" the girls said in unison.

_"No turning on the lights, and remember...three times." the voice of the first girl came back as Dylan went into the kitchen. The Dared girl walked into the bathroom with the candle setting it down in front of the mirror.  
"Bloody Mary. This is so stupid. Bloody Mary."_

"I agree, this is stupid." Claire complained again.

"Oh come on! You're the one who wanted this show."  
"But not this episode!" Claire laughed

"Fine fine, we can skip the episode once Dylan gets back."

"Good! Because the shape shifter episode is next!"

"I coming with the popcorn!" Dylan said walking into the room, but he suddenly stopped, and looked as if he were in pain a bit. Both Claire and Melissa jumped up, but as Dylan fell, so did Claire. Popcorn flew everywhere as Melissa leant down next to the kids and tried to rouse them.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"So why did you lie about your name?" Ryder asked Diana as they continued to walk. Diana gave Ryder a look.

"Seriously, you don't know?" Diana said and Ryder appeared clueless. "How about the fact that you attacked my sister? Or kidnapped and tried to kill one of my best friends because you thought she was me? Is any of this ringing a bell?"

Ryder thought it over and then nodded. "Okay, you have a good point. We didn't exactly come off as brotherly." Ryder then laughed. "Changing your name and lying to us. It was very sneaky on the part of you two. I think I'm really starting to like my two little sisters." Ryder put an arm around Diana and messed up her hair.

"Hey," Diana yelled and pushed Ryder away with her magic and into a tree.

"Oh I'm going to get you," Ryder yelled but it seemed more playful then angry.

"You're going to have to catch me first and I know these woods better then you do." Diana ran into the wood with Ryder chasing her and Lucas not far behind them. Cassie and Jake just looked on and laughed.

"We still have to find Adam and Faye," Jake yelled after them and then turned to Cassie. "Is it me or are we getting a little too close to the evil older brothers."

"Hey enemy of my enemy is my friend and right now Faye and Adam are the enemy." Cassie said. "I don't think they're going to hurt Diana right now. They need us and Diana can take care of herself. Besides we're not far behind them if Diana needs help."

"I guess. This just feels wrong somehow." Jake said and then looked at Cassie. The wind had blown Cassie's hair into her face and the girl was trying her hardest to keep it out of her eyes. It wasn't working that well because every time she moved it the wind kept blowing it back. Jake laughed at the sight and thought of how cute Cassie was. "You should put your hair up in a ponytail. It would keep it out of your eyes."

Cassie gave Jake a look. "Yeah, but I don't think I would look good with a ponytail."

Jake had to disagree. He could just picture Cassie with her hair up and thought she would look great. "I think you would look good." Jake said and Cassie turned around. Jake noticed that Cassie blushed. Why would she blush at that comment? Then Jake remembered Diana talking to him the other night. Diana had said he might have a chance with Cassie. Did the blush mean Cassie liked him? Jake had to find out.

He put his hand on Cassie's shoulder and turned the girl around to look at him. He didn't give Cassie a chance to speak as Jake bent down and kissed Cassie right on the lips. Cassie was shocked at first, but quickly got into it and kissed Jake back. The two kissed until they needed to part for air.

"Jake I..." Cassie never finished what she was about to say. For a second her face looked like she was in pain and then she fell to the floor. At the same time Jake heard three other thuds ahead of them.

"Cassie," Jake said shocked and turned Cassie over. "Cassie." Jake shook the girl, but she wasn't waking up. Jake picked Cassie up and then went to find the other three. "Diana, something is wrong with..." Jake stopped when he got to the little clearing in the wood where Diana, Lucas, and Ryder had been goofing around a bit during their hunt for Adam and Faye. All three of them were on the floor unconscious. Ryder was halfway on top of Diana and Lucas wasn't far from the both of them.

Jake put Cassie down on a grassy part of the clearing and kissed her on top of the head. Then he went to check on the other three. Jake moved Ryder off of Diana and pushed the boy away not caring if he hurt him. Jake was very sure Ryder hit something hard, but the boy didn't wake up and try to kill Jake.

"Diana," Jake said shaking the girl, but got the same responded as Cassie, which was nothing. The girl didn't wake up. Jake looked around at the two boys. He doubted he would be able to get them up either and then Jake remembered the three thuds he had heard the same time Cassie had fainted. All four Balcoins had fainted at the same time! "What the hell is going on?" Jake said out loud to himself, but the only thing that responded to him was the birds in the trees.

**Anon review replies:**

**Guest: They might get hurt, you never know. As for the couples, those are possibly going to change.**

**Olivia: We have plans and plotlines for a season three, so most likely we'll write it. Glad you like what we've done so far :)**

**CAKE: haha well I'm glad you like them together :) yeah, they are the Delena of TSC (another good couple, by the way. TVD is such an amazing show, and apparently Phoebe Tonkin, who played Faye Chamberlain, is joining the TVD cast!)**

**Guest: here's the next chapter :) sorry it's a day late**


	12. Coma

**ATTENTION: Since school is starting for all the writers, we'll be updating every other week instead of every week. Sorry about that :(**

**Also, if you check out my profile you can find a link for a TSC roleplay that we run, and an absolutely BRILLIANT trailer that Marril96 made for us!**

**Plotline writers – Forcystus5, xleamalfoyx, Coralinas, thefallenloveoflife, flower gettin' lady**

**Writers – Coralinas, Forcystus5, CharmedMilliE, ilove2dance, luisa Mendoza, thefallenloveoflife, witch-witha-B, TtylerMaria**

**Editors – flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B, Your Sister. Duh**

**Graphic Designers – xleamalfoyx, Charlene F.**

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Episode 12 – "Coma"

Jake looked around not knowing what to do. Diana and Cassie weren't responding to him at all and Jake decided he might as well check on Ryder and Lucas. He was kind of allies with them right now. He went over to where he had thrown Ryder off of Diana. The boy was face down in the dirt. Jake flipped Ryder over so he was on his back.

"Hey, come on get up." Jake shook the boy but Ryder was just like Cassie and Diana. Jake sighed having no idea what to do and walked over to Lucas. The boy was lying on his back. "Caveman, get up and try to kill me or something." There was nothing from Lucas. No anger at the nickname or anything. "Okay, what the hell is up with you four?"

That's when Jake saw something. Lucas's hand was lying out against the grass and Jake got down on his knees to take a closer look. There was nothing on the hand! The Balcoin symbol wasn't there. Jake looked at Lucas's other hand, but once again no symbol. Jake went back over to Ryder and checked, but there was no symbol on either hand. Now Jake hadn't actually ever seen the symbol on the boy's hands, but he had always assumed it was there. Also he believed Cassie had said she recognized the boys as her brothers by seeing the symbol. It was a long time ago thought so Jake decided to check the two girls.

He went over to Diana and checked the hand he had seen the symbol on. It was gone! Had disappeared. "Okay strange," Jake said out loud to himself and then went over to Cassie. Checking Cassie's hand he wasn't surprised to see the symbol gone. "How does that disappear?" Jake had seen that symbol. It had looked burned into their hands at first, but over time it had just become a part of the hand. It almost looked like it had always been there and always would be there. Now that the hand was just normal it was weird.

"Okay, I need you guys to wake up now," Jake said shaking Cassie again. There was nothing though. She wasn't waking up and Jake sat down next to her to wait. He figured they would wake up soon, but as the minutes continued to tick by and no one moved he started to doubt it.

Jake reached into his pocket to take out his cell phone. He needed help, but paused. He had no idea who to call for help. Normally for situations like this his first call would have been Cassie, but considering she was a part of the situation that wasn't an option. His next call would have been Diana, but once again she wasn't an option for the same reason as Cassie. Then it would have been Faye. While the girl was never really that helpful she was always trying, but Jake was sure Faye wasn't an option. One she had stolen the Balcoin Book of Shadows and was the enemy right now. Jake wasn't sure what was up with the girl, but he couldn't call her for help. He also couldn't call Adam for the same reason.

That left one person left for Jake to call. While the two had never been that close she was the only option Jake had left. Besides the last two remaining Balcoins were probably with her and if they were up maybe the two could help wake their siblings somehow. Jake searched through his phone book and found Melissa's number and pushed call.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye had been so on edge since the skull had turned into a person and she had woken up in the middle of the forest unsure of what the hell had happened to them. They had no idea what was going on and what it all meant and one thing Faye hated not knowing what was going on.

Faye brushed her hands against her legs as she moved to pick up the Balcoin book, slipping it in her bag with the spare herbs.

"Do you remember the way out?" she asked Adam who had already stood up.

"We need to get out of here" Adam said suddenly causing Faye to jump slightly, looking around them, somewhat cautiously.

"Yeah" he said still looking around his voice sounding as distracted as he looked.

"Not inspiring much confidence," Faye muttered, and Adam rolled his eyes at her.

"Are we going or not?" he asked a little snappily, causing Faye to head off into the forest.

She just wanted out of there. She was cold, tired and a little achy from where she had fallen on the forest floor. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable place to fall like a rag doll. Hearing footsteps behind her she knew Adam was following, she didn't actually know where she was going. But she was annoyed at Adam, sure things hadn't worked out how they had hoped but that didn't mean he should snap at her and now she was doing the storming off thing. That didn't work so well as she had no idea where to go and Adam was following her, storming off is suppose to be a solo thing.

As Faye paused and let out a small noise of annoyance, Adam walked around to stand in front of her.

"Look, I'm sorry Faye," he said receiving a small huff from Faye, whose arms crossed over her chest.

"If you get us out of this place, you're forgiven," she told him, a stubborn note in her voice.

Adam simply nodded before taking her hand and moving through the trees. They were walking for another few minutes when Faye tugged on Adam's hand. When he turned he saw her looking to the left where there was a shadow in the trees.

They both moved backwards in unison, they hadn't trusted the skull in the first place and if it was still lingering in the forest they had to get out now. Who knew what it could do now it had a body, it could speak and move. It was more than a skull now.

Still moving back they kept their eye on the shadow in the trees, it was like all the classic horror movies. As soon as they looked away the shadow would be gone and then they would be in big trouble. It was hard to manoeuvre backwards through a forest, Adam and Faye tripped, bumped and scraped their way through the trees.

When they were so far away from the shadow that it could barely be seen, Faye spoke.

"Do you think it's really the skull?" she asked in a whisper, and Adam shrugged.

"It hasn't moved, it could be anything," he told her before rubbing his head slightly. "But then again, why would the skull hang around?" He asked.

"Oh I dunno, to kill us," Faye retorted. "To stop us from talking, we are the only ones who know what it really is."

"But we gave it a body, a life," Adam told her as he turned to look at her. "Even if it is here, it isn't going to hurt us."

Faye frowned. Adam seemed so calm and collected all of a sudden. The change was quite drastic he had gone from almost having a heart attack every time a twig snapped under his feet to telling her that the skull would never hurt them. It was like Adam knew what the skull was thinking and feeling. But the skull had got everything it wanted right? It wouldn't still be controlling Adam because it had a body, it could do whatever it wanted without their help.

Quickly brushing the thoughts away she followed Adam who was trying to pull her to the outskirts of the forest. They were both grateful to see some of the sky, although it was still a little dark but it was nice to know they would soon be out of the forest. As soon as they were out of the forest they could forget everything that happened, the spell, the skull, the unconsciousness and even Adam's weird behaviour.

"Ah-ha," Adam said his voice triumphant as he led them onto one of the small dirt paths.

It meant that they were getting closer to home, well closer to the truck so they could get home or as far away from the forest as possible. As they were walking along the dirt path Faye heard the loud snapping of a twig close by, her head whipped around as she stopped dead on the path.

"Faye, calm down," Adam said moving closer to Faye and wrapping an arm around her waist. "The skull isn't here,"

"And how do you know that?" Faye asked still looking back.

"Because if it was me, then I wouldn't have stuck around."

"Oh, so you tend to channel ancient skulls made of crystals that are full of dark magic, that can possess people and make them do whatever they want including persuading two teenage witches to give it a body in the hope that the two witches would get more power, which by the way, we don't have."

"How do you know we don't have more power?" Adam asked.

"I can feel it, I feel weak. If anything I have less power than I did when the skull was leg-less."

"Let's just get out of here and test our powers later," Adam told her. "We don't want to be stuck in the forest, unconscious and weak."

"Unconscious again, and weaker," Faye muttered before allowing Adam to move her away and along the path.

When they reached the edge of the forest, they paused, hearing a car pulling up and stopping just at the outskirts of the forest. Hearing the unmistakable sounds of footsteps, Adam pulled Faye behind a tree. The two peaked out from behind the tree a frown forming on Faye's face.

"Is that...?" Adam asked and Faye simply nodded.

"My Mom," she whispered.

"What is she doing here?" Adam asked in a whisper, and Faye sent him a glare.

"How the hell am I suppose to know?" she whispered. "Why don't you go out there and ask," she said, her tone sarcastic.

As Dawn's footsteps stopped, Adam and Faye both froze. Luckily it was dark enough that Dawn probably wouldn't see them but they could risk her asking questions. But could they risk her going into the forest? The skull could still be wondering around in there and what if Dawn figured it all out, then she would really hate Faye.

As Adam and Faye stood frozen they watched as she looks to her phone and heads off again, like she was following someone's direction. Adam and Faye stay still as they watch Dawn walking in the opposite direction, further and further into the forest. Once the footsteps and the light from the phone fade, Adam grabs Faye's arm and starts directing her back to the edge of the forest.

Adam had obviously thought of everything as they had hidden the truck away from the forest, they were lucky. If Dawn had seen the truck she would have known Faye and Adam had been there and then Faye and Adam would have had trouble denying being anywhere near the woods.

As they neared the truck Adam pulled out his keys and walked ahead, it was weird. Faye had told him she felt weak and tired, but once Adam had started moving about and trying to get out of the forest he felt fine, slightly energized like he got some sort of buzz from the spell. Unlocking the truck he quickly got in the driver's side before waiting for Faye to get into the passenger side, as soon as they were both tucked in Adam drove off carefully.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Jake had to wait the phone ring a couple of times before Melissa answer and from the other side a scream of "JAKE, OH MY GOD," exploded in his left ear, making him jump and let his cell phone fall. He picked it up, already guessing that things weren't very well on the other side.

"Melissa?"

"Oh, my god, I need help here, why is nobody answer their cells?" Melissa was talking very fast and he could tell she had been crying because of the tone in her voice.

"What is going on with you?" Jake asked her, his heart still jumping from the confusion of the situation and bracing himself for some more bad news.

"Claire and Dylan are in some weird coma, I can't wake them up!" When Melissa finished, Jake felt his stomach became very small. Whatever it was, was spreading! "Neither of them hit their heads or anything, the food is okay, I don't think that popcorn can cause any weird reactions..." She paused. "Wait. What are the chances of they have been cursed by Bloody Mary?"

"What?" Jake wasn't sure he had heard her correctly.

"Bloody Mary, the toilet dead person! We were watching the episode of Supernatural, what are the odds of it having affected them?"

"I... don't think that are many, Melissa." He said carefully. Then he added: "Actually, it's a pretty stupid idea and you really need to stop freaking out."

"Well, we are witches, Jake. We have fought against demons. Your brother became a zombie. I'm sorry to say this but reality has been kind of absent from our lives!" She finished in a loud and sort of angry voice.

When he realized that he was actually creating theories in his brain to connect Blood Mary to the present events, Jake had to shake his head. Things were pretty bad without him becoming a lunatic.

"Melissa, unless Cassie, Diana, Ryder and Lucas have also seen this thing, I don't think the toilet ghost is responsible." He concluded.

"What? What you mean?"

"Well, they are all knocked out too. I'm here in the Forest with them. They are all breathing and seem okay, but won't wake up."

There was silence at the other end Jake had to call Melissa to get an answer from her that revelation seemed to put an end to her theory. Jake didn't blame her, it was hard to think when your brain was occupied in absorbing the situation around you.

"But what kind of freaking epidemic is that?" She finally said.

"I'll take Diana and Cassie to their house. I'll call you as soon as I get there." It was getting dark, Jake realized. Besides, they weren't going to solve that puzzle from the middle of the Woods.

"You'll take four people by yourself?"

"What do you mean, four?"

"I thought you said Lucas and Ryder were there too? You are not going to leave them, are you?"

"Well..." Jake looked around. "Yeah, that was the obvious thing, right?"

"Jake" Melissa said in a serious voice, sounding a lot like she was talking to a child. "You don't leave a man behind."

"This only works if it's one of your own men! When it is about the guys from the other side of the trench, leaving them is the only thing to do!"Jake concluded and Melissa thought he was sounding a little crazy.

"Jake, you can't do this. Besides the fact is, if they wake up there alone they would think that you were the responsable for knocking them out. Then we will have even more trouble."

"Who said they will wake up? Maybe we are lucky and they'll be eaten by some animal."

"Jake."

"Are there any bears in Chance Harbour?"

"JAKE!"

"Okay, okay! I'll take them too!" He said before hang up.

With a feeling of frustration, He got up and started to move the first one of the sleeping siblings.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Come on, come on" Jake moaned down the phone, willing Adam to pick up. It soon went to voice mail so Jake hung up and decided to try and call Faye instead, surely she'd pick up she was always on her phone.

"_Hey this is Faye I can't come to the phone right now please leave a message..."_

Jake sighed frustrated as he hung up. He started pacing around the small clearing; He didn't know what to do. He needed help, but who could he call? He mentally started running through a list of people in his head, trying to come up with people he could call. Obviously he couldn't call Cassie or Diana, he'd tried Faye and Adam, he'd already talked to Melissa but he needed an adult, he didn't think Adam's dad was a good idea and it's not like Jake had parents of his own he could call for help.

Jake decided to pick Cassie's phone back up and look through her contact's list to find someone to call for help. He started to scroll through her contact's trying to find someone. Jake stopped when he spotted someone who would be able to help.

_Dawn Chamberlain._

Jake quickly called her, feeling relieved that he'd found someone to help, Jake waited praying Dawn would answer.

"Hello Dawn Chamberlain speaking." Dawn greeted down the phone when she picked up.

"Miss Chamberlain? It's Jake. I need your help." Jake told her urgently, sounding very panicked.

"Jake, Jake. Calm down and breathe. What's wrong?" Dawn asked patiently trying to calm the boy.

"It's Cassie, Diana and the Balcoin siblings. They're all unconscious, I can't wake them up I've tried. I don't know what happened and the symbols have vanished off their hands." Jake told her trying to explain everything quickly.

"Alright Jake calm down, where are you? I'll come and pick you and everyone up." Dawn told him.

Jake quickly explained where they all were and told her that he and Melissa had decided to get everyone back to Cassie's house. Dawn agreed that it was a good idea, she told him to wait for her and she would collect them all and take them all back to Cassie's. Jake thanked her and hung up.

Now there was nothing to do but wait.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Melissa's head snapped up as she heard her front door open. She wondered if it were her dad, and how she'd explain this, but then realized she _wanted_ it to be him. He may not entirely know what to do, but she needed him to at least _try._

"Dad?!" She called out nearly crying.  
"Melissa? What's wrong?" His voice travelled down the hallway as he made his way to his daughter. The scene in front of him made him stop dead in his tracks. Melissa crying, the twins passed out, popcorn everywhere.

"Dad, I'm really scared! I don't know what happened. One moment we're joking and having fun... The next..." She trailed off waving her hand around the room, tears falling.

"Okay, Uhm... okay. Calm down Melissa, we can't do anything with you freaking out. We can figure this out but first you need to calm down."

Melissa nodded and clasped her hands behind her head taking in deep, shaky breaths.

"Alright, I'm going to check on Dylan, make sure he didn't get hurt from falling. You're going to go grab the smelling salts from the first aid kit. We need to start somewhere, yes?"  
Melissa followed her dad's instructions numbly and almost robotically. She debated on telling him the rest of the story, but decided against it, she was already so confused, trying to tell the rest would only confuse her more.

Returning to the entertainment room with the smelling salts to find Dylan repositioned on the floor, a pillow under his head, and Claire also repositioned on the couch. She handed the packets to her dad, who cracked each one in front of each twins face, each time nothing happening.

Patrick ran a hand slowly over his head. What could he do?

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Dawn drove up and parked her car outside Cassie's house; with a sigh she turned round to see Lucas, Ryder, Cassie and Diana still unconscious in the back.

"Right help me get this lot inside," Dawn told Jake trying to look reassuring as to not worry the poor boy further. Jake nodded before jumping out the car and opening the back door, he quickly picked Cassie up as if she were a feather. He carefully carried her up the drive, unlocking her door with magic he ran upstairs and placed her gently on her bed, she looked as if she could just be sleeping. Jake wished she was.

Jake ran back downstairs and outside to help Dawn bring Diana inside; once they got her upstairs they put her on Cassie's bed with her sister. After that they both dragged Ryder and Lucas inside and put them in the guest bedroom; across the hallway from Cassie's room. As no one had made any signs of waking up anytime soon Jake and Dawn went downstairs and sat in Cassie's living room.

Dawn looked across at Jake who was sat on the opposite sofa; He couldn't sit still and kept glancing towards the stairs as if Cassie or Diana would come waltzing down them soon. She sighed; she couldn't take this silence any longer.

"Jake, please calm down. I'm sure everything will be ok, we'll sort this out." Dawn assured Jake.

"Really, how? No one even has a clue what's wrong with them! If we don't know what's wrong, how can we fix it?" Jake demanded jumping up and starting to pace the room.

"Jake, you were there; you must sort of know what happened." Dawn told him, trying to find out what happened.

"I don't know; we were looking for the Balcoin book of shadows. I really don't know what happened, one minute we were all goofing around, the next all four of them were unconscious." Jake told her sitting down and putting his head in his hands, trying not to break down. He was really worried about Cassie and Diana. _What if they never woke up?_

"And why do you think Faye and Adam stole the book?" Dawn asked.

Jake stopped pacing and looked down to the floor with an expression that surprised Dawn. He looked angry, guilty and disappointed all together.

"Well, because of their strange behaviour and because they skipped school the day the book was stolen," Jake mumbled. "Mainly, though, because as soon as I heard the book was missing I wanted to believe it was Faye's fault."

Dawn grew more concerned by the word. She hadn't realized the breakup had affected Jake so much. After all, he broke her heart once before.

"And that's what upsets me," Jake went on without looking at Dawn. "I know I left her once, I know I fight with her a lot, I know I got obsessed with that godforsaken vial and I know I brought this on myself for being enough of a jealous jackass to dump her but I still blame her for everything. All week, when something bad happened the first blasted thought that crossed my mind was that Faye was to blame no matter how ridiculous it sounded. She may have gotten together with Conant to get back at me or because she likes him more than me; regardless every time I see them together since, I can't help but feel furious. But it's not really her fault and I know it. If anyone is to blame is me because I started the whole damn thing by being the worst boyfriend ever. I am nothing but trouble," Jake chocked out and collapsed on the couch.

Dawn stared for a long moment before joining Jake on the couch. Truth be told, she didn't know what to say. On one hand she wanted to comfort him but as it was her daughter they were talking about it was a delicate subject. So, she just hugged him and listen everything to he needed to get off of his chest while patting him in the back.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Walking through the doors of the Boathouse, Faye was mumbling, "Answer, c'mon, answer." To her phone, which was still ringing at the other end.

"No luck with Diana yet?" Adam asked. "I tried Cassie, Melissa, and Jake, but they're not answering either."

"She might answer." Faye argued weakly, hoping she was right.

On the way back the two had started to realize that if the thing wanted power, it would go after the Circle members automatically. They'd tried to contact them but with no luck. Faye had tried Melissa first, three times, and each time she hadn't gotten a response.

"_This is Diana's phone, please leave a message."_ Faye heard the chirpy, cheerful sound of Diana's voicemail. _"Oh, and if this is Faye; no, you can't copy my work for our essay in Sander's class, so don't bother leaving a message."_

Faye felt fear coiling in the pit of her stomach, and for once she felt bad about something she'd done. She would feel terrible if Diana or any of the others had been hurt.

"Maybe it got them." Adam said, leading Faye into the back room and sitting down on the couch.

She shuddered. "I really, really hope not. And now that you mention it, why aren't you more concerned?! They're our friends, if they…" she couldn't force the word "die" out of her mouth. "… If they get hurt, it's our fault."

"They have magic, they can fight back."

"It knocked us out in less than five seconds. You really think they can fight it off?"

He didn't answer for a moment, getting up to retrieve a bottle from a shelf. When he'd gotten a glass and sat back down, he said, "Yes, probably. I mean, if there was three or four of them when it attacked."

Faye felt sick. "We need to go find them, _now_."

"Faye—"

"Now, Adam."

"No."

The single syllable was said with such intensity, so much rage with so much calmness, that Faye found herself speechless. She could have sworn that his eyes even turned darker for a moment.

"We're not doing that." He added in a normal tone, like nothing had happened.

"We have to." She said. She felt like she was begging now, not asking or suggesting. It was as though Adam had the power over her, and not the other way around.

She'd like it better the other way around.

"I have a better idea," he said, smirking at her over the rim of his glass. "How about we do a spell to find skull?"

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Patrick paced back and forth, occasionally running his hand over his head or chin. Melissa had been given the task of sweeping up the popcorn, and watch over the twins. He needed help. Stopping mid-pace, he could call Dawn. She was always the fast thinker. Quietly Patrick walked to another room.

The phone rang four times before being picked up.

"Hello?" Her voice sounded stressed and a bit frantic.

"Dawn, I'm sorry to call so late, but I need your help. Melissa's friends... She says they just passed out, but I suspect magic."  
"It is magic. Cassie, Diana, and two others are in the same state."  
"Have you made any progress on the situation?"

"None. Though we're working on it. Can you bring the other two over?"  
"I think that's a good idea."

"See you soon then?"

"Yep." Patrick said hanging up the phone, and returning to Melissa.

"Honey, think you can carry Claire?"  
"Maybe, why?"  
"We're taking them to Dawn's, to try and figure things out better."

Melissa nodded and turned to Claire, as Patrick hoisted Dylan up and walked towards the front door.  
Melissa had a bit more trouble picking the girl up. As small as she was, so was Melissa. Looping her arms under Claire's, she began walking backwards dragging the girl off the couch.

Once outside, she found the car started and Dylan buckled up in the backseat.

As soon as they were all situated Patrick took off, the only indication to his stress and worry, was the high number read on the speedometer. They drove in silence, hoping and praying everything resolved tonight.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

In Cassie's living room, the silence was so intense that Dawn could hear the tick-tock of the clock from the kitchen. It was dark outside and none of the Balcoin children had woke up yet.

She was suppose to be trying to figure out what was going on with all of them, but was feeling so tired that her mind was a blank. And giving a look to Patrick, Melissa and Jake, she knew they were as tired and confused as she was.

"So" Patrick broke the silence, "what do we have?"

Dawn almost smiled, remembering how her old friend was always so direct.

"Basically, six passed out people. You may have seen two of them, they arrived in your car." Jake said a little sarcastically. Patrick smiled though.

"Whatever it is, it is only affecting the children with Blackwell's blood." Dawn said, choosing to keep going with the urgent subject. "Unless Adam and Faye have also been affected."

Everybody noticed the concern on her voice.

"I don't think they were." Patrick said to her. "Melissa and Jake were with them and are awake, there is no reason why Faye and Adam wouldn't be fine".

Because of those words, a possibility started to form in Melissa's brain.

"What could cause this?" Dawn asked more to herself, frustrated. She never knew how to deal with suspense very well and not having answers to her questions just made her crazy. "I mean, the Blackwell's are a strong bloodline, they wouldn't be affected by some random thing."

"Maybe some of us just give too much credit to the Blackwell family". Patrick said with a sort of warning tone in his voice. Dawn looked at him, a little shocked by his words. All the stuff with Blackwell and herself was in the past, there was no reason to bring it up now while there were more important things to deal with.

When she looked at Patrick, though, He was once again with his neutral face.

"I mean, maybe they aren't as strong as everyone thinks", Melissa's father added.

"Yeah, maybe. "Jake seemed to have liked that theory enough to agree with that quickly.

"Maybe they have some family weakness, something that is also hereditary." Melissa suggested, always ready to think of Dylan and Claire as two very fragile individuals.

"It's possible." Her father said.

Jake sat straight on the couch and looked at Dawn and Patrick:

"Did Blackwell ever say anything about that? About some plant, potion, spell even an allergy that could affect him?"

Both Dawn and Patrick gave him little laughs.

"John wasn't someone that would give his weak points away". Dawn told him. Melissa, knowing about Dawn's past with Cassie and Diana's father as she was with Faye when they read her diary, felt very uncomfortable with that particular conversation. When she looked at Jake, though, she saw he was giving Dawn a naughty smile.

"Believe us, if there was anything that could knock him out like this, He would have hid it very well."Patrick Said, ignoring the weird behaviour of Melissa and Jake. "This makes them extremely vulnerable. Something like that would be a family secret."

Those last two words made Jake think about the Balcoin book of shadows. Dawn was already into the subject, but Patrick wasn't and he was not sure Melissa and Dawn wanted to tell him about it just yet.

He looked at Melissa and found her eyes on him. She and Jake didn't need to exchange words to understand what the other one was thinking.

If this was something related to the Balcoins, it probably would be in the book. And as Faye and Adam had it, the odds that they were the ones behind that were way too big to be ignored.

Melissa didn't want to compromise Faye or Adam, but if their suspicions were right, whatever they were doing was a low blow. It wasn't fair to leave Claire and Dylan, or Cassie and Diana like this and Melissa was never very fond of being stabbed in the back especially by people you called your friends.

She made a small nod to Jake, telling him it was better not to bring the subject up. Dawn ruined their plans, though:

"There could be something about it in the Balcoin book of shadows!" She said, making Melissa jump. Oh, a girl shouldn't have to choose which friend to save. "You said it was gone? Whoever took it must be behind it!"

"There is a Balcoin book of shadows?" Patrick asked impressed.

"I found out a few days ago, by Cassie and Jake." Dawn told him. "The older ones had it, but it was stolen."

Melissa watched her father give a concern expression.

"That's really bad news." He said. Melissa couldn't stop her own fear by listening to his voice. "That book must be full with all kind of tricky, evil magic. All sort of dangerous secrets too. John himself had a lot of knowledge about all sort of things, including other witches bloodlines. Imagine what another witch could do with the book"

Melissa was feeling sick. She knew Faye very well and would give up an arm for her and would also be ready to tell anyone that Faye wasn't a person with bad intentions. But she was careless, impulsive and power hungry. Melissa would trust Faye with her own life... but not the evil secrets of the most powerful dark magic family. It would be like leaving a little kid playing alone with a box of magic's!

Jake, on the other side of the couch seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"We have to find out who stole it." Dawn was sounding very determinate. "But while we don't, let's focus on looking for alternatives to wake Cassie, Diana and the rest of those kids. We don't even know if the person who has the book is still in Chance Harbour."

"I agree." Patrick told her.

Still feeling a wave of happiness by the lucky turn of events, Melissa just nodded at them, seeing out of the corner of her eye Jake give a deep breath of relief.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Slowly Lucas and Ryder opened their eyes. Ryder looked around taking in his surroundings. He was clearly in a bedroom, but it was one he had never seen before. Looking around though Ryder saw pictures of Diana with some boy and realized the bedroom was very girly. He assumed then he was in Diana's bedroom. How he got here he had no clue. "Where are we?" Lucas hissed jumping out of the bed.

Ryder rolled his eyes. He loved his brother, but sometimes he was not very good at observation. "I'm assuming Diana's bedroom," Ryder said holding up a picture of Diana and the boy that was on the nightstand.

"How did we get here?" Lucas said looking around. "The last thing I remember we were looking for those two and were goofing around with Diana and then..."

"That's all I remember," Ryder said getting up and heading for the door. "I suggest we find out." Ryder opened the door and walked into the hallway followed by Lucas. Not long after they walked out another door opened and the two boys saw their youngest siblings walking out of another bedroom.

The four ignored each other as they ran down the stairs. They found Jake, Melissa, Dawn, and Patrick in the living room talking. "What happened? How did we get here?" Lucas demanded of the four making them turn around.

"Oh joy, the caveman is up," Jake mumbled.

"What did you call me," Lucas hissed, but Ryder put a hand on Lucas's shoulder to calm him now. No reason to get into a fight yet.

"Did you two have something to do with this?" Ryder said turning to Claire and Dylan. "Besides Cassie and Diana you're the only ones powerful enough to hurt us like this and Cassie and Diana were with us." Lucas turned to the two.

Claire and Dylan could see where this was going. The two had no idea what had happened themselves. One minute they were watching Supernatural and the next they were waking up in a bedroom that looked like it belonged to an old lady. Also there had been a layer of dust on everything which made the two think the bedroom hadn't been used in a while. Claire and Dylan knew Lucas and Ryder wouldn't believe them though and ran passed their older brothers to Melissa for protection.

Lucas and Ryder looked ready to attack and that's when Dawn decided to cut in. "Calm down you two," Dawn said standing up and getting in the middle of the boys and the two younger children. "I understand you're confused and want answers, but Claire and Dylan didn't do anything. Whatever happened to you happened to them too."

"Whatever it was affected all six Balcoin siblings," Patrick said. "Whatever it was took the six of you out at the same time."

"Six," Jake whispered and looked up the stairs. Jake jumped up and ran passed the two oldest Balcoins and up the stairs. The seven watched Jake race up the stairs confused for a minute and then decided to follow him.

Jake had realized when Patrick said six that Cassie and Diana hadn't come down the stairs yet. He was going to check on them, so he headed to Cassie's bedroom. He was hoping the two were just sitting on the bed talking to each other trying to figure out what had happened. When he opened the door though that wasn't what he saw. Cassie and Diana were still lying on the bed next to each other unconscious. It looked like they hadn't moved since Jake had placed them in the bed.

"Diana, Cassie," Jake said starting to shake them. "Come on your siblings are up. It's time for you to wake." Jake continued to shake them, but he was getting the same reaction from them that he had gotten in the wood. That was nothing. The two weren't waking up.

"Cassie," Jake said and anyone could hear how upset he was in his voice. He bent down to give Cassie a kiss on the lip. He was hoping that might shock her up and he would feel her kissing back, but nothing happened. Jake pulled his head away and her eyes were still closed.

"She's not Sleeping Beauty. Kissing her is not going to wake her up." Jake heard Ryder's voice say. Jake turned around to find everyone had followed him up. Ryder and Lucas were leaning against a wall. Melissa was in the doorway with Dylan and Claire behind her. Dawn and Patrick had walked into the room and had come up to the bed.

"What will?' Jake asked. He was ignored as Dawn and Patrick went to check on the two girls.

"Cassie," Dawn said. "Can you hear me?" Dawn herself was hoping for some type of reaction from the girl now that her other siblings were up, but there was nothing. Cassie didn't move. The only thing that kept Dawn from believing the two girls were dead was the rise and fall of their chest and the strong pulse she was able to feel when she looked for it.

"Why aren't they up?" Jake asked. "The others woke up shouldn't they?"

"Jake, I don't know," Dawn said.

"But there has to be a way to get them up. A spell or something we can try." Jake said.

"Jake, I don't know," Dawn said again getting a little annoyed. Of course she wanted to wake Cassie and Diana up. Cassie was in fact Dawn's responsibility and Dawn would do anything to protect and help her. She just didn't know what to do. "Jake I don't know what happened to them. To any of the Balcoins. I don't know why those four woke up when Cassie and Diana didn't. I just don't know Jake."

"There's something wrong here," Patrick said making everyone look at him. "There's something wrong with Cassie and Diana. Something went wrong with them. Something that didn't go wrong with those four. The spell effected Cassie and Diana differently somehow, so those four woke up and Cassie and Diana stayed in a coma."

No one spoke for a while. No one knew what to say. Melissa walked into the room and went right to the bed to look at the two. Tears were in her eyes. Diana and Melissa had been good friends for a long time and Melissa and Cassie were just starting to get close. She didn't want them to be in a coma. "We'll be able to wake them up right daddy?"

Patrick put his arms around his daughter. "We'll try. The first thing we have to do is find out what's different about them. If we try anything without knowing why they're like this we could just make them worst." Melissa nodded and put her head into her father's chest to cry.

Jake sat down on the bed next to Cassie. He pushed hair out of Cassie's face and looked at her. "I won't stop looking until I find a way to wake you up," Jake said.

"None of us will," Dawn said looking at Jake and then at Melissa and Patrick.

"Count us in," Ryder said making the four look at Ryder and Lucas shocked. "What? They are our little sisters and we don't want anything to happen to our family."

Lucas nodded his agreement. "Like I told Cassie once I don't hurt family.

Claire and Dylan looked at them. "You hurt us all the time." Claire complained.

"Just to keep you in line," Ryder said. "Don't tell me you took any of those death threats seriously. We wouldn't have really hurt you badly." Claire and Dylan gave them a look.

"You boys need to work on your parenting skills. You don't hit or threaten to kill kids to keep them in line," Patrick said.

"They need to work on their people skills," Melissa mumbled.

"We're offering to help. Do you really want to make fun of us?" Ryder asked and no one said anything. "I didn't think so."

"Of course we'll help too," Claire said.

"Yeah, we can't let our big sisters stay asleep forever," Dylan commented.

"Well with all of us working together I'm sure we'll get Cassie and Diana up soon." Dawn said smiling at the four Balcoins. "Come on. Let's start looking." Dawn gave one last look at the girls before leaving the room. The four Balcoins, Patrick, and Melissa followed her.

Jake was the last one left in the room. He got off the bed and walked to the door. "We will get you two up and when we do I'll make sure nothing ever happens to you again." Jake gave Cassie one last longing look hoping maybe she would wake up, but nothing happen. He closed the door and went to follow the others.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye and Adam were in the back room of the Boathouse. Faye took her glass and drank the last of the wine that was inside. She was about to pour herself another one when Adam took the bottle away.

"Hey," Faye complained.

"I don't think we need to get drunk," Adam stated putting the wine back to where they got it.

"We just got tricked by a skull into giving it arms and legs and a real body. We have no idea who or what the thing we created is or if it wants to hurt the entire Circle. Plus everyone else is not answering their cell phones. I think it's a pretty good time to get drunk," Faye said wanting to reclaim the bottle.

"Or a good time to keep a clear head and think. I highly doubt the skull is going to kill anyone. Maybe we should try to find it instead of drinking." Faye rolled her eyes not knowing what was up with her boyfriend, but Faye wanted something and Faye always got her way.

She got closer to Adam and kissed him. "Or we can have one more drink and go up to your room and forget everything until tomorrow. Then we can find the skull person."

"We shouldn't," Adam said, but Faye gave him another kiss and anyone could see he was going to fold. "Okay, tomorrow." The two continued to kiss ignoring everything around them as they got into their make our session that would lead back to Adam's bedroom and another night between the two.

"How cute," the two were shocked out of their own little privet moment by an unknown voice. "You two make a very cute couple."

Adam turned around, but barely looked at the stranger. "Thank you sir, but customers are not allowed back here." Adam wished he had just taken Faye away from the Boathouse and to his room. He was completely ready to jump into bed with her right now and forget about the day until tomorrow when he would find the skull.

"You two are more real to me then Adam and Cassie or Adam and Diana." That made the two completely turn around to look at the stranger shocked. The stranger was tall and seemed to be very strong. He had dark brown hair that was slightly spiked in the front and brown eyes. He had a bit of a smirk on his face and seemed familiar to the two.

"Do we know you?" Faye asked.

The stranger laughed. "Yes we do, but I guess technically we only met once and I was in a bit of a hurry. New body and all." Faye took a step back shocked. The minute the words left the strangers mouth Faye knew where she had seen this man before. It wasn't that long ago.

"Skull," Faye whispered, but everyone could hear her.

"In the flesh," the former skull said taking a seat. "You two were very helpful with that." The skull had a smile on his face. "Adam, why don't you go get that wine out again so we can all talk." Adam went right away and got the wine out making Faye a little upset. When she had asked Adam hadn't given it back, but this skull wants it and he goes to get it right away.

Faye took hold of Adam's arm. "Why are you giving this thing wine? It could be here to hurt us."

"I wouldn't hurt you two. Like I said you've been very helpful to me and I could use some more of your help." The former skull held up his hand and the wine and a glass came to him right away. The skull poured himself a glass.

"Why should we believe you? You tricked us once," Faye stated.

"True," the skull said. "But let me explain things to you. I'm sure you'll see it my way Faye."

"Before we sit down and have a nice conversation you should at least tell us your name. That is if you have one." Faye said looking at the thing.

The former skull laughed. 'Oh I have a name." The former skull held up his glass. "It's Balcoin." The skull then took sip of his wine.


	13. Primordial

**ATTENTION (SERIOUSLY, read it please): Since school has started for all the writers, we'll be updating every other week instead of every week. Sorry about that :(**

**Also, if you check out my profile you can find a link for a TSC roleplay that we run, and an absolutely BRILLIANT trailer that Marril96 made for us!**

**Plotline writers – Forcystus5, xleamalfoyx, Coralinas, thefallenloveoflife, flower gettin' lady**

**Writers – Coralinas, Forcystus5, CharmedMilliE, ilove2dance, luisa Mendoza, thefallenloveoflife, witch-witha-B, TtylerMaria**

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**The twitter account is TSC_Project and the tumblr account is The Secret Circle Project. We also have a facebook page, you can find it by searching The Secret Circle Project.**

**Disclaimer: We don't own The Secret Circle**

Episode 13 – "Primordial"

Faye move backwards as she gasped. Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed that Adam didn't look so calm anymore. The former skull chuckled at their expressions.

"You seem surprised," He said before sipping more wine. "Do you have anything to ask?"

"Who…what…how?" Faye stammered in a rush.

The man, assuming he was a man, laughed in amusement. "Well, to answer the obvious question, I am the _original _Balcoin," He replied.

Faye stared in disbelief. "Then you are Francis Balcoin?"

Faye immediately wished she hadn't opened her mouth because the amusement on his face turned to raw hatred faster than she could have said bitch.

"No," He said in a low tone, but it was so laden with malice it actually send shivers down her spine. "But, I suppose I can't really blame you for making that mistake. After all, Francis tried his hardest to make sure I was forgotten; after he absorbed me, that is."

Faye frowned at the last sentence, but then she remembered Sander's class about Francis Balcoin and the revelation hit her with full force.

"You are the source of dark magic that turned the bloodline from light to dark," Faye said, shocked. "The thing that came out of the ritual Francis did to gain more power during the Inquisition."

"Balcoin's" eyes went back to amusement. "The passing of time is so boring," He said chuckling. "People really get history mixed up."

"So that's not true?" Adam asked interested.

The former skull shrugged. "It's partially true as I _am _the source of dark magic from their bloodline. Of that make no mistake. However, I can assure you he did not try to summon me; he tried to seal me for good and very nearly succeeded," He grudgingly admitted.

Faye and Adam glance at each other but did not comment as they got the feeling he was about to enter story mode.

He chuckled slightly before continuing, "I am the most powerful demon ever to walk the Earth."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"We have to figure this out in a reasonable, calm manner." Melissa was saying, trying to keep Jake from hitting something. He was fuming. "I know that this seems bad but they're still breathing."

Diana and Cassie were sprawled out on the bed, Jake, Dawn, Melissa, and Patrick around it. Lucas and Ryder lingered in the doorway, suspicious glances being sent in Cassie's and Diana's directions every other minute.

Jake wanted so badly to blame the Balcoins, but it was pointless. Melissa had told him not to at least five times, reminding him that making them angry was a very bad idea.

"Maybe the spell that knocked them out is affecting them differently because they only started using dark magic recent, whereas the Balcoins have used it for years." Dawn suggested.

Patrick shook his head. "No, I don't think that's it."

"Why not?"

He launched into a lengthy explanation, mostly involving the history of dark magic. Jake tried to block it out. Instead, he watched Claire enter the room, going over to sit next to Melissa, who was beside the bed. He narrowed his eyes at her as she whispered something to Melissa, and then slowly reached out to Cassie.

"What are you doing?" Jake demanded. The sharpness of his tone almost surprised him.

Claire blanched. "I want to help."

"Please." Melissa cast him a desperate look.

He sighed, nodding. Claire reached out and touched Cassie's face, fingers tracing along the curves of her cheeks. Jake wasn't sure what she was doing, and by their expressions, neither were Dawn or Patrick.

After a few moments Claire did the same to Diana, but dropped her hands in frustration only minutes after. "Nothing. It's like they're not there. I can't get to them. In fact, it's like my magic isn't working at all…"

"So what do we do?" Jake asked. He was starting to feel irritable again, just wishing there was a way to wake Cassie up. He'd heard so many horror stories about people in comas, how they never woke up. He didn't want that to happen to Cassie.

"Well—" Melissa began.

Jake groaned impatiently. "What, Melissa?"

Her whole body was still and unmoving, eyes trained at the doorway behind him. He turned, and saw none other than Emily Glaser, Melissa's stepmom, standing there with her hands on her hips. She was wearing a plaid shirt and jeans, her hair pulled back into a loose bun. Jake hadn't seen her in a while.

"What's going on?" She demanded. Her gaze fell on Cassie's Book of Shadows, which Dawn was looking through in hopes of finding a way to wake the girls. Emily's face became stony and unreadable. "No. _No_. Tell me this isn't what it looks like."

And silence fell.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye stared stunned wondering what to do. One part of her, probably the survival instinct of her mind, was urging her to run away as fast as she could. The other part, though, wanted to finish hearing the explanations. She settled for the latter but decided to be cautious.

"Well, you don't really look as mean as a snake," Faye retorted, trying to look like her usual self.

The demon chuckled. "Believe me; those weaklings that require a host to be fully active could never hope to be a match for me. I am farmore powerful than them."

That interested Faye. Maybe he could give them more power after all. But there was still one question that she wanted an answer to.

"Then how did you get sealed inside the Skull?" She asked curiously.

The demon growled but Faye noticed he seemed more calmed than the last time he thought of Francis.

"I underestimated him," He admitted. "I should have known better but I was sure that with the ancient magic forgotten he could not contain me; at least not like Francis own ancestors did, 3300 years prior.

Faye's eyebrows went up. She did _not _expect this thing to be so old and yet look so young. It was even creepier than Mr. Sander's two paragraph-long essays; that's for sure. The demon's eyes look pensive, as if he was thinking of the distant past.

"I am an extremely ancient being, little witches," He said with a faraway look. "I am ancient enough to remember the time when humans still lived in caves. I am ancient enough to remember when magic was raw and virtually untamed by anyone other myself. I am ancient enough to remember the rise of human civilization in Ancient Egypt and the birth of the first people who would become the ancestors of all the witch bloodlines that exist now-days."

Faye was deeply impressed by that and she didn't bother to hide it. This creature is older than Human Civilization? How much knowledge and power does he possess? She chose not to comment and let him continue.

"About 5000 years go," The demon continued, "The Egyptian priests of their Sun God Ra discovered how to channel energy from the rays of the sun that bathed the desert in its light with fierce intensity and use it to achieve supernatural feats. Thus, the very first form of magic was Shamanism. However, there was one particular family, in which all the members were priests, that were so powerful in its control that the power of the sun and its light became a part of their blood and discovered that their powers could be passed on to their descendants instead of studying for years to channel the power of the sun and they became the most powerful light magic family of all time," He explained. "The members of that family were the direct ancestors of Francis."

Faye blinked at the information and vaguely wondering if she should start calling Cassie sun princess number one.

"Their original last name was not Balcoin as you can imagine," The demon continue. "Over the millennia the name change slightly, depending on what language they were speaking at the moment, most which I can't pronounce in English for lack of a proper translation but the closest would be Sunwalker as the people of the time thought the family was blessed by Ra himself."

"For the next two centuries their descendants continue to grow more powerful than previous generations, continuing to help the Pharaoh rule well over the land," He went on. "Eventually, couple dozen families learned from the Sunwalker to bind their Shamanist magic to their own respective bloodlines but the original family members remained the strongest witches there were; although three families became particularly powerful on their own right and became close to the Sunwalker family. Those three families were the direct ancestors of the Blake family, the Meade family and the Nidaros family, the latter being the leading family of the circle John destroyed years ago," He explained and smirked at Faye's and Adam's shocked expressions.

The demon became quiet for a moment and then resumed his history lesson. "And then began the First Witch Civil War."

Faye started at the sentence. She knew witches were sort of at war with the witch hunters during the inquisition but she never thought there were times in history were they fought each other in a full scale war.

"The priests of Set, the god of darkness and chaos, wanted to be more powerful than the priests of Ra so I appeared to them, making them believe I was Set himself and taught them how to channel power from the opposite source as the Sunwalker family and their followers: The night and the moon and thus, the first Dark witch sect was formed," The demon said with a smirk. "I made their powers grow and when I had enough followers to wage war on those of Ra I attacked in an attempt to make myself the God-King of humankind's only empire at the time."

Then his face frowned in something close to contempt. "But apparently, the most powerful member of the Sunwalker family was prepared for me. While he was leading his witches in a war against me he instructed his best jewel crafters to make a crystal skull in a spot in Egypt where the sun was brighter at daylight, working for seven days until it was done. Magic always runs well on jewels and they knew it, so when the skull was finished the four most powerful light witch families combined their might to imbue overwhelming light magic to the skull so that finally, during the last battle of the war they could use it to seal me and my powers inside."

Faye looked at Adam and they were both in awe. They were learning long forgotten secrets of the origins of witchcraft, the history lesson was really interesting, but above all, there was something in the voice of the demon that pull them in. As if it was seductive. Faye didn't know what it was but she wanted to know more regardless.

"For the next 33 centuries I remained dormant in the skull," He went on. "Then came the Inquisition and a few desperate witches released me in the hopes that I could help them destroy their enemies but I had my own agenda. First, though, I decided to learn more of the world and see how much had changed while I was dormant.

Then he growled. "Imagine my surprise when I discover that the Sunwalker line had survived the pass of time and lived then in France. I knew, though, that this time he could not truly seal me, at least not the same way because Francis did not know how to recreate the spell his ancestor did to seal me. Still he was very powerful and I did not want to leave anything to chance so I decided to get rid of him before completing my master plan."

If Faye had been sat down, she would be on the edge of her seat out of sheer interest. After the background information she was finally going to learn what happened to Francis.

"We fought," He continued simply. "He may have been one of the most powerful witches of his time but I was at least 5 times stronger. Still, I wanted the fight to be a challenge considering it would be hard to find another witch of his caliber to engage so I did not go all out. It was a big mistake, I see that now," He muttered. "While he could not seal me directly into the skull, he did something similar, albeit indirectly"

He took a deep breath and stared at nothing in particular.

"With the skull as an anchor, he sealed me inside his own bloodline."

There was a long silence as Faye and Adam absorbed that information.

"Well," Faye said after a minute. "That explains a lot."

Adam just nodded.

"Kind of ironic actually," The demon said chuckling. "The Sunwalker family members used to be the most powerful light witches who ever lived but in his desperation to contain me, Francis triggered a chain reaction that cursed his coming descendants to be dark witches as his genes changed from light to dark. While I remain dormant most of the time, I know the memories of every Sunwalker who had me inside them and when they let their anger take over, well, sometimes I could influence their actions and give them a dark power boost. When the darkness consumed Francis after years of struggle he rejected his former last name, which was written in a French variant at the time, and adopted my own name: Balcoin," He explained. "And that is most of the story"

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"I think I know something we could try!" Ryder suddenly burst out, the entire room turned to look at him.

"Lucas, I'd need your help, but I just remembered there was this spell we saw a few years ago, it would place us inside of their minds, maybe we could figure out what's going on."

"Do you even remember how to do it?" Lucas asked, himself only remembering a few bits and pieces.

"That's why I need your help, can't be too hard to remember can it?" Ryder asked earning a look from Lucas

"Lucky for you boys, I know a spell that could help you remember." Patrick said stepping forward

"Let's try it."

"I need you to concentrate fully on this spell, clear everything else out and only think of remembering the full spell."  
The boys went into a deep concentration for a moment before each nodding. Patrick lifted his hands and touched each forehead briefly. His mouth moving, ever so lightly murmuring words, and then touched their foreheads again.

"Got it." Lucas said, a smile spreading on his lips, Ryder nodding in agreement

"No one can touch us while we do this, and we need absolute quiet, we could get lost in the connection." Lucas explained

"Ready?" Ryder asked standing over Cassie's head. Lucas nodded and went to Diana.

"Is this a two person spell?" Claire asked

"No, but maybe if one of us fails the other wont. Now Shhh!"

The boys placed their hands on top of the Girl's heads, their own heads bent in concentration.

"meabhair taisteal." The boys said in unison. As they opened their eyes they found themselves in a dark room, so dark they wouldn't be able to find their way out if they tried. Faint voices could be heard, muffled, but that was it, before they could even decide what to do they were violently jerked back to their bodies.

"Did someone mess with us?" Lucas asked looking around confused

"No, the spell failed. Something's blocking us."

"Maybe we could try?" Dylan asked

"It's worth a shot." Melissa said quietly

The room watched and held its breath as the twins copied their brother's move for move word for word. No one spoke as they watched the two slip in, their heads drooping a little further, another minute passed, Patrick was sure they lasted a little longer than the other two, but it ended the same way, the two jerking into consciousness.

"We could hear them, and tried to follow their voices, but it was interrupted."

"Let us try again." Lucas spoke up, frustrated

"No, we're all going to go home and rest. There's nothing more we can do today. Let us rest our minds and try later." Patrick said turning to his wife and Daughter motioning that it was time to leave.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye and Adam just stared at Balcoin for a minute not too sure what to make out of his explanation. It was a lot to take in. A whole lot. Both knew they should be afraid. This guy was not just a demon, but the demon that the dark magic that Cassie and her siblings had come from. Both knew how powerful those six were and could only imagine just how powerful Balcoin was. Both knew they should run out screaming, but neither could. Adam didn't know why but for some reason he just wanted to side and help Balcoin. The one thing that came across Faye's mind was power.

"So there you have it. My history. Now will you help me?" Balcoin said, finishing up his glass of wine.

Before Adam could say yes Faye stopped him. "Why do you need our help? Being as old and powerful as you are what could you want from us?"

"There are things you can do that I can't." Balcoin said simply while Faye stared annoyed. "Well, if you must know, while I am extremely powerful there are a few feats that are simply out of my reach because of what I am. Ironically, the more powerful you are in the dark arts, the more you are affected by certain limitations; the more you belong to the dark, the more the laws of the dark bind you to submission," He explained. "You two are not even near as close as I am in my worst day so the restrictions won't stop you, which means I could use your service eventually. Besides, you might say I am also being grateful," He added. "You did release me from a prison cell I was in for five centuries and it's really good to be walking and talking again."

Faye was about to ask another question, but Balcoin stopped her. "Let me guess. You want to know what you'll get from this arrangement."

"Well yeah," Faye said confused. "How did you know that was going to be my question?"

Balcoin laughed. Faye kind of thought it should sound like one of those evil laughs villains on TV shows give, but it didn't. It sounded perfectly normal. If Faye didn't know better she would never think this guy was anything but a normal human. "You forget Faye I've known you for your entire life, since you were a little girl. Well at least Diana has known you for her entire life and I've been a part of Diana for her entire life until up to just a while ago. I remember when you were five on the playground and broke your leg. I know what Diana knows about you. Plus Cassie also knows you; maybe not for as long, but long enough and well enough to get an idea of what you would say." Faye nearly laughed at the idea of dark, or maybe now sun, princess number one knowing her at all. "Laugh at it if you want, but Cassie does know you a bit. The six of you were through so much together. Besides you did spend a lot of time together this summer during family dinners."

Faye was seriously starting to get pissed off at Balcoin. "I can see your mothers and Cassie relationship is a touchy subject for you, so let's go back to your question. What's in it for you two" Balcoin looked like he was thinking for a moment and then held out his hand. Suddenly Faye felt powerful again. "There I believe that's the small amount of power you had before I took my power back."

"Small?" Faye questioned. She had never felt so much power before.

"Yes small. Compared to the amount of power I have access to and even the amount the six siblings used to have access to what you were able to get from my skull is a small amount." The word use to stood out in Faye's mind, but she choose not to say anything. "Now you have two choices. One is you can either help me out and keep that power and even earn more power or the two of you can walk out that door right now. I won't stop you if you choose not to help me, but I will take back my power. Your choice."

Faye could see Adam almost said yes and once again stopped him from speaking. She still needed to know something. "You said last time you got free you wanted to end Francis Balcoin or Sunwalker or whatever the hell his last name was. This time will you want to kill Diana, Cassie, and their siblings?"

Balcoin once again laughed. "Those six." Balcoin seemed to find the very idea funny. "Francis corrupted his bloodline with my magic. Now that I'm gone from them I'm sure the normal Sunwalker genes will reappear, but it will take time. Also it will take lots of training for them to get to where their ancestors used to be in power. Now Diana and Cassie are a double threat, yes. Not only are they from the Sunwalker family, but the Meade and Blake families which are two of the strongest light families besides the Sunwalker, but once again they were corrupted by me. It will take a lot of time and training before even they are a threat. I am not worried about them and will not seek to kill them until they are a threat. Besides I'm sure Diana and Cassie are having some problems right now. Problems that will keep them magically weaker even after they get out of trouble."

Faye wondered what Balcoin meant but chose not to comment. "So your choice. Are you in or out?"

Faye and Adam looked at each other. Faye nodded. No matter how much common sense told her this was wrong and how everything in her told her to run she wanted power. This guy could offer her some power. She could finally be more powerful then Cassie. "We're in," Adam said. "What do you want us to do?"

"Well first..." Balcoin started but Faye held up her hand to stop him. "What Faye?"

"Before we do anything for you I have something I want to do first," Faye said. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"No, go right ahead. I'm in no hurry." Balcoin said with a smile. "Do whatever you need to do."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

As soon as they were home, Patrick and Emily sat Melissa down, and then made themselves comfortable on the couch opposite her seat. "So," began Emily, "When did this start? How did you even find out?"

"That I'm a witch?" she waited until both her parents nodded. "It was a long time ago, one of my friends found out. Diana."

"The other Circle members." Emily realized. "You formed a Circle with the other witches."

"Yeah." Melissa said. "And it was fine, at first. We had to wait for Cassie to show up, but once she did witch hunters started coming after us." She winced at the way Emily's face grew grim, and how her dad shifted in his seat like he wanted to be closer to her, protecting her. "They didn't manage to hurt us. Then… Cassie's dad showed up. He wanted to take all the Balcoin kids and make his own Circle. We didn't know it, not for weeks. We thought that Eben, the head witch hunter, wanted to kill us—he did, by the way, but that doesn't matter—he got possessed by demons and Blackwell made it seem like he kept saving us over and over. He said we could form a crystal skull with our family crystals, a magical instrument that would help us keep safe. He introduced Diana to her dark magic. He tried to kill us all."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Emily asked. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Melissa shrugged, guiltily avoiding her eyes. "You're gone so much. I thought you wouldn't understand. Dad… well, when I told him he was okay with it. Until now." The last part was added when she glared at him half heartedly.

He smiled weakly. "I was more worried about making sure your friends were okay. Under normal circumstances I would have acted very differently."

Melissa sighed. "Still, we should have known. Even with all the times Blackwell keep saving our hides there were all the horrible things we heard he did. Getting half of our parents killed on the Boatyard fire, destroying the Nidaros Coven, sleeping with Faye's mom…"

"Wait, what was that?" Patrick shouted and stood up.

Melissa started. "Uh, sleeping with…"

"Not that, before," He urged.

"That he destroyed the Nidaros coven?" Melissa asked. "Yeah, he did that too; they came back as ghosts once we activated the Balcoin medallion so Cassie destroyed it and they disappeared."

Patrick became absolutely livid and still by the sheer shock. He had to force himself to sit down on the couch and stared at the wall with a haunted look as Melissa and Emily grow worried.

"Patrick, what is it?" Emily asked, her voice filled with concern.

"It was him," Patrick blurted out. "It was him and he had the nerve to look me in the eyes."

Now Melissa was really starting to get worried. She had never seen her dad look so stunned before.

"What's wrong?" Melissa asked her father.

Patrick took a very deep breath and looked at Melissa straight in the eyes. "My mother, your grandmother from my side, was from the Nidaros family and she was the leader of that different circle of six families."

Melissa gasped in shock and her jaw stayed dropped. She could not believe that Blackwell not only got her mother killed but also her paternal grandmother. She remained mute while his father explained.

"I come from another circle," Patrick explained. "It was named after my family because we were its leaders in terms of power and ancient ancestry. However, we did not come from the eastern coast circles, like Cassie's and Diana's siblings, but directly from Europe. Our circle was one of the few that did not flee Europe during the Inquisition. Only during World War II did things got bad enough for our ancestors to leave and they came to the United States. By then the three circles that split up after the Salem Witch Trials had their own territories well established so we mainly stayed in Mid-western United states, moving every few years to other states," He explained.

Then Patrick sighed in a mixture of sadness and joy. "About 20 years ago, our circle decided to pay a visit to the Chance Harbour circle but after meeting Sophie Ann, I decided to stay," He said and gave Emily a sheepish smile while she huffed half-heartily. "I still kept in touch with them of course but I settled down on Chance Harbour. One year later we married and three years later you were born, Melissa," He said as he smiled at his daughter who smiled back.

Then Patrick's face turned grim. "Five days before the Boatyard Fire, I felt as if my heart skipped a few beats for a brief moment and I knew that my old circle was broken," He stated.

Melissa grimaced as she remembered the day their circle got unbound and how her heart reacted the same way.

"I tried to contact them but no one at all answered me so I dropped everything, forgot about the approaching meeting to decide the truce with the witch hunters and drove to the state my circle was in at last time I checked. When I got to the small town, the flames from the woods around our houses already consumed most of the neighbourhood and… no one from my parents and my own generation survived," He said and his voice broke as Melissa and Emily balked in horror.

"My younger brother was there too, you know?" Patrick said after a moment of silence. "It was fortunate that I had a brother to replace me in the bound circle since I decided to stay in Chance Harbour, even if I couldn't do anything to protect him," He said sighing. "I had to stay for the week and talk to the police to clear a few things about the families, the insurance company about the fire and the life insurance policy, and lawyers about the wills of my parent's generation. After some paperwork, it was decided that as I was the last member of age in my family that I would inherit everything from the six families´ bank accounts and anything salvageable from their houses. I pick up every book and magic relic that was not torched and decided to return to Chance Harbour, only to find half of my new circle dead as well along with Sophie," He rasped.

Emily hugged her husband firmly and gave him the moment to compose himself.

"Soon enough the Elders stripped me from my powers as well… or so they thought," He said smiling for the first time in a while.

"Uh?" Melissa babbled confused.

"I am a Nidaros, Melissa, and so are you by that matter," He pointed out. "My family magic is very old and very powerful, the oldest written records we have of our family tree goes as back as the Roman Empire nearly 2 thousand years ago but rumour has it that we are as old as the Blake's in the sense we can be traced back to the origins of witchcraft, whenever that was," He explained. "I was very powerful back in my day and while the Elders were powerful in their own right, I managed to use a magical ward that still stands today to hide my magical imprint. The elders destroyed most of my magic but not all of it," He added.

Melissa stared, wondering how many more surprises for one day she was going to be able to take

"After, I had enough time calm down from all the experiences, I decided to change my last name to Glaser," Patrick continued. "Most people thought that was to honour Sophie and it was to an extent, but it was also to protect myself from whoever killed my family and circle."

Then he glowered. "But apparently, it was someone who both Sophie and I considered our friend," He said and clenched his fists.

Melissa didn't know what to say to make her dad feel better. She had no idea mentioning those ghosts would haunt his dad so much. But there was one thing she did not know.

"But before the circle was broken were you unable to use solo magic or circle magic with the Chance Harbour circle?" She asked.

Patrick actually smiled. "Our family's magic is powerful enough to bypass the restraints of the circle magic," He claimed. "We don't have Dark magic, of that you can be sure, but we are still on a high level of magic so we can get that done."

Melissa frowned. "But then how come I couldn't use solo magic when our circle was bound?" She asked.

Patrick snorted. "Because, as you were on Sophie's circle, the circle magic focused on your magic from Sophie's side," He explained. "But, if you would have told me you were practicing, young lady, I could have taught you how to bypass those boundaries to unlock the other half of your magical powers," He said with a mock glare.

Melissa grinned sheepishly.

"Powerful or not, magic is dangerous," Patrick said suddenly. "However, you and your Circle know that already though and besides a few bumps along the way you seem to be doing a good job." Patrick looked at Emily who nodded. "We'll support you doing magic and being a witch."

Melissa couldn't contain her happiness at that news. She jumped up and hugged Patrick. Then she hugged Emily. "Just be careful from now on," Emily said. "I'm not a witch and don't know much about magic, but I'm sure I can help you. Especially if it's with boy problems." Emily looked at Patrick. "I think I'm better at that then him." Melissa had to giggle a bit on that one.

"Well if you're going to be a witch you should have the right tools," Patrick said confusing Melissa. Patrick left the room for a bit and then returned not long later with a book. It looked old and Melissa knew what it was right away. She stared at it not being able to speak. "Sophie's book of shadows. The Glaser Family book of shadows. I've had it hidden since Sophie died. I will give you the Nidaros book of shadows another time but for now, this one is yours."

Patrick held it up to Melissa who took it and looked at the cover. She couldn't wait to go up to her room to be able to read through it. Every family's book of shadows was different. They had different spells and different information. She couldn't wait to see what was inside hers. Also she couldn't wait to compare it to Cassie's and Diana's book to see what information hers had that theirs doesn't. That's when Melissa paused.

"Dad, we have to go back to the Blake house." Melissa said confusing the two adults. "Cassie and Diana are still asleep. We promised we would try to help get them up. We have to go back and help."

Patrick nodded. "Your right. We did say we would help. Come on." Melissa ran out of the house followed by Patrick. Emily stood there for a minute not knowing if she should go. She didn't have any magic or knowledge about magic. What help would she be? "Emily you coming?" Patrick asked coming back in. Emily finally nodded and left the house with her husband and step daughter.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Dawn looks at the two girls. They were still lying on the bed and nothing had changed. They hadn't moved at all. They hadn't talked. It was getting Dawn very worried. She had to try something. She put her hand on Cassie's head, but before she could say anything Jake walked into the room. "What are you doing?" Jake asked.

"I'm going to try the same spell Lucas, Ryder, Claire, and Dylan tried. I'll see if I can get into their minds." Dawn said.

Jake smiled and sat down waiting for Dawn to continue. Dawn said the spell to get into Cassie's mind. At first nothing happened and she thought she failed, but then she found herself surrounded by blackness. She looked around and saw Cassie far off in the distance. "CASSIE," Dawn yelled, but Cassie didn't turn around. "CASSIE." Dawn tried to move closer to Cassie, but found she couldn't. Dawn shook her head. Of course she couldn't move. She was in Cassie's mind. Cassie had to come to her and apparently Cassie couldn't hear her.

Dawn decided just to listen. See if Cassie was saying anything. She had to concentrate hard, but she finally heard Cassie voice. It was low. "Why can't I get out? I need to get out. I need to wake up. I can't move. I can't see. DIANA." If Dawn could move she would have jumped back. The call out for Diana was so loud while she could barely hear anything else. "DIANA, WHERE ARE YOU. WHY CAN'T I HEAR YOU?"

Dawn opened her eyes and looked around. She was back in Cassie's bedroom looking down at the sleeping girl. "Well?" Jake asked. Dawn could see how much Jake was worried.

"I was able to get into her mind, but I couldn't contact her. She couldn't hear me." Dawn told Jake. "I'm going to try Diana now."

Dawn moved over to Diana and put her hand Diana's head. She mumbled the spell and after a bit found herself in Diana's head. She could see Diana in the distance, but when she tried to call out for her Diana didn't turn around. She like Cassie couldn't hear Dawn. Dawn decided to once again just listen in. "Can't get up. Need to get up. How do I wake up?" Dawn realized right away it was very similar to what Cassie was thinking. "CASSIE. WHERE ARE YOU? CASSIE!"

Dawn snapped back into reality. "Same," Dawn said looking at Jake. "I wasn't able to contact either of them. I don't know what's wrong with them." Dawn thought over everything. "I could barely hear them. The loudest thing I heard was when they were calling out for each other. They seemed scared and confused that they couldn't hear each other."

"Well they should be able to through their link," Jake said not thinking twice making Dawn look at him confused.

"Link? What link?" Dawn asked.

"Their mental link," Jake said and then realized that no one probably told Dawn about that. "Oh, sorry. The two have developed a mental link with each other. They can hear each other thoughts, share memories, emotions, and even feel each other pain." Jake smiled thinking of all the time Cassie and Diana had privet conversations leaving the rest of the group out of it. 'They really enjoy using it too. I think they have fun with it." Jake realized Dawn was giving him a weird look. "What?"

Dawn didn't answer though and went to look at Cassie's hand. She too had seen that symbol a couple of times and it was weird that it was gone. Then she looked at Diana's hand. She knew the symbol would be gone too, but it got Dawn thinking. "Jake, that symbol was formed by the girls dark magic." Jake nodded. It was the best theory any of them had to why the symbol had appeared. "It disappeared and the other four Balcoins are very weak magically right now." Jake nodded. "What if they don't have their dark magic anymore?"

"It would explain why they're weak magically. In fact I think I heard Lucas and Ryder complain they think their dark magic is somehow gone. Where are you going with this?"

"What if this mental link was formed by the girls dark magic and kept stable by the dark magic. When the dark magic left somehow the link would have broken."

"Okay," Jake said getting confused. "So they can't hear each other thoughts anymore. What's the big deal?"

"Jake, this is a very big deal," Dawn said and the way she said it made Jake see how serious she was. "A link like that is never meant to be broken. If broken it can have horrible side affects to the linked people." Jake was confused and Dawn could see it. "It's the reason they're not waking up." Dawn made it very clear to Jake.

"Oh," Jake said getting worried. "Then we have to fix the link." Jake went to Cassie's side right away. "How do we do that?"

"I don't know," Dawn said.

"There has to be a way. If magic made the link magic should be able to fix it." Dawn could see how worried Jake was for Cassie and she found it sweet, but he was being a little annoying.

Dawn put an arm on Jake's shoulder. "I'm sure there is a way, but you have to let me think about it." The two sat there in silent for a minute. "I'm going to try and contact Cassie and Diana again. See if I can let them know we have a working theory and are going to try and get them up soon."

Dawn put a hand on Cassie's head and repeated the spell. She once again found herself in Cassie's head. She saw Cassie, but instead of standing like she was before Cassie was sitting on the ground. "DIANA," Dawn could hear Cassie continually yelling. When Dawn tried to reach out and yell for Cassie though there was once again no respond. Cassie couldn't hear her. Then she stopped calling for Diana and it looked like she was crying. "I'm so tired." Dawn could barely hear Cassie's voice. "There's no way out. No way. DIANA. Where are you? Diana." Even the last Diana was barely above a whisper. Dawn was then out of Cassie's mind.

"Did you contact her?" Jake asked, but Dawn didn't answer. She went right away to Diana and said the spell to get into Diana's mind.

Once inside she saw Dana falling to the floor. "Cassie," the word was loud, but not as loud as before. "Why? Why? Why?" Diana shook her head. 'It's so cold here."

"DIANA," Dawn called out, but the girl didn't turn to her. There was no way for Dawn to get through to her.

"So cold. I want to sleep," Diana whispered and then Dawn was out of Diana's mind.

"We got a big problem Jake," Dawn said after a minute. "They're starting to give up."

"Give up?" Jake asked and Dawn nodded.

"They're starting to stop fighting. I heard them mention that they were tired. That they were cold." Jake went and brought the covers more over the two girls at the mention of that. "That's sweet and all, but it's in their minds. If they stop fighting and give in. Go to sleep in their minds they're brains will slowly start to shut down." Tears appeared in Dawn's eyes as she looked a Cassie. "They'll die."

"What!" Jake said shocked. "No. We have to fix this. We have to fix this now." Jake didn't cry in front of people. He liked to think of himself as a strong guy, but he couldn't stand the thought of Cassie and Diana drying, especially Cassie. It left him feeling empty inside.

Dawn move her hand across Cassie's face looking at the girl. "I'm not going to let her die. I'm not going to let either of them die. You just need to give me a while to think. I'll fix this somehow." Neither of them said anything as the very real possibility of sunk in.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye motioned for Adam to get up and he reluctantly did, it seemed like he didn't really want to leave Balcoin. Then again could they really trust him in the Boathouse where anyone could walk in? What if Ethan found out what they were up to? Adam seemed to be thinking along the same lines as he turned to Balcoin.

"So how do we get in touch with you?" Adam asked, Faye frowning slightly. It was a good point. Faye wasn't used to not being in control, Balcoin could just show up whenever and wherever he wanted and they couldn't do a thing about it.

"Good point, I mean it's not as if we can text you," Faye commented. "I mean you are like a million, people at the age of 60 can't even work a mobile."

Balcoin raised an eyebrow. "I'll get in contact with you."

"And what if that doesn't work for us?" Faye asked, they had lives after all. They couldn't risk the circle or their parents finding out about Balcoin, her mom already had enough reasons to love Cassie more.

"Then I will have to find some other witches to offer up my power too," Balcoin said with a smirk, he knew Faye wouldn't risk the power.

"Fine, but you don't show up when our parents or the Circle are around," Faye told him, and Balcoin raised an eyebrow thoughtfully.

"Deal."

"Now we need to go," she said, taking Adam's hand and pulling him out the door towards the bar. Balcoin simply smirked and disappeared into a black curl of smoke.

Once they were in the bar and Faye started heading for the door, Adam pulled her arm stopping her mid stride.

"Okay where are we going?" Adam asked as he looked around at the quiet Boathouse, it seemed deserted for this time of day but maybe that was the best thing right now.

"Did you not hear what he was saying about Diana and Cassie?" She asked, knowing he probably didn't catch any of the little comments Balcoin had made.

"He said he wouldn't hurt them," He said, Faye rolling her eyes. "What?"

"He may have said he wouldn't hurt them but he said that they were in enough trouble already and having problems," She said, Adam pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"Crap," he said before Faye pulled out her own phone. "I have missed calls from Melissa and Jake," Adam told her and Faye nodded.

"Yeah me too," Faye said. "We have to go over there now."

"What if they know we did something?" Adam asked. "We didn't go see them earlier for a reason, Faye."

"Yeah, but if we stay away any longer they will be even more suspicious," Faye told him. "The longer we avoid it, the more lies we have to come up with, they called 2 hours ago we can easily say we were busy with something."

"Or we could make ourselves busy now, then we won't technically being lying," he said, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"The Circle is in trouble, which we probably caused and you want to do that now?" Faye asked with a small smirk on her face. Adam shrugged.

"That magic gave me a bit of a buzz, think it would be a good idea to work it off," He said. "Would look a little less suspicious if we weren't on a magic high."

"But what if Balcoin is still back there?" She asked pulling a face at the thought of Balcoin hanging around and Adam simply shrugged again.

"We get him to leave," He suggested.

"I don't trust him, Adam."

"I'll grab the keys to the truck and we'll head over to Cassie's" Adam said, moving away and Faye looked thoughtful.

"The truck..." Faye said before letting out a small squeal when Adam picked her up and put her over his shoulder. "Adam, put me down," Faye told him, trying to keep herself from laughing as she saw the look on Ethan's face as they went past.

"Bye dad," Adam said cheerfully as he walked to the truck, carrying Faye.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Melissa didn't even bother to knock as she walked into the Blake house. Patrick and Emily were not far behind. They found Jake, Claire, Dylan, Lucas, and Ryder all sitting in the Blake living room looking up set. As soon as they saw her Claire and Dylan ran up to Melissa and started crying on her shoulders. Melissa stood there not knowing what was going on.

"What's happening?" She asked, realizing everyone was upset. Jake even had tears running down his face and she could swear she could see Ryder and Lucas almost on the verse of crying.

"Cassie and Diana are dying," Jake said, and Melissa saw how hard it was for him not to break down right away.

"What? Why?" Melissa asked, tears coming to her eyes. Jake then explained what happened before with Dawn going into their minds and what they found out.

"The mental link between them broke. They can't wake up until it's fixed and we're running out of time. They're starting to give up. If they do they'll die." Jake finished explaining and hearing it again made it way to real for him. He had to cry. Melissa hearing the news also started to cry and she hugged Claire and Dylan closer to her.

Patrick and Emily stood there not knowing what to say or do to make things right. "Patrick, please tell me you know how to fix this link?" Patrick shook his head.

They were all silent for a bit then they heard footsteps and Dawn appeared. "Melissa good your back," Dawn said looking at everyone. "I think I have a plan." Everyone looked at Dawn waiting for her to explain. "Cassie and Diana's dark magic created the link. Maybe their light magic, the one that comes from their mothers side of the family, can fix it."

"That's brilliant," Patrick said. "Their magic would have to be redirected to the link though."

"Well let's do it," Jake said, jumping up.

"The problem is, we can't do it. Cassie and Diana have to do it." Dawn told Jake and Jake sat down.

"Then it's hopeless. They don't even know what's going on." Jake looked like he was giving up.

"It's not hopeless if I can get in contact with them. Do the spell again and get into both their minds at the same time to explain to them what to do. I think I know why I wasn't able to contact them." Everyone looked at Dawn. "Those two are in a deep coma. It will take a lot of power to contact them. Power I don't have. Kate split her power between Charles and me making me weaker then all of you magically."

"So one of us tries to get into their minds?" Melissa asked, confused.

Dawn shook her head. "Even if you could and contact them you don't know what to do to fix the link. No, I need both of you to transfer some of your power to me." Melissa and Jake looked at each other. "It would only be temporary. Hopefully the two of you giving me a power boost will give me enough power to contact them."

"What about us?" Ryder asked. "We might not be as powerful as before." Anyone could see the anger in his eyes as he said this. "But we still have power."

Dawn nodded. "I know, but you four have taken a huge power drain. Your bodies aren't used to it yet. It could be dangerous to take power from you, but if Jake and Melissa's power boost isn't enough I might have to. That's only a plan B." The four Balcoin siblings nodded understanding and Dawn looked at Jake and Melissa. The two nodded agreeing with the plan. "Okay, if all this fails plan C is Emily."

Emily looked around a bit and then pointed at herself. "Me? I'm not a witch. I'm human."

"You're a doctor," Dawn said.

"Yeah, but I don't know how to treat a magically induced coma because of a mental link breaking."

"We don't need you to fix them," Dawn explained. "If all this fails we need you to take them to the hospital. If we can't wake them up magically we have to hope the human way can keep them alive long enough for us to figure something else out." Dawn put a hand on Emily's shoulder. "You would need to bring them to the hospital and come up with a really great excuse to why they're like this. You think you're up to it?" Emily thought for a minute and then nodded. "Good, hopefully it won't get that far."

Dawn went up the stairs and everyone followed her into Cassie's room where the two were still in bed. Dawn sat on the bed in between the two. "Jake, Melissa, I need your power now."

"How do we do this?" Jake and Melissa asked together.

Patrick was the one who explained. "Just feel into your power and direct part of it at Dawn."

"It's that simple? No spells?" Jake asked.

"For a witch to witch transfer no. It gets a little trickier for a witch to human transfer, but I believe Melissa said you knew about that." Melissa and Jake looked at each other and then closed their eyes. They could feel their powers. It felt like an old friend. They knew how to do spell and control their magic. This time they took hold of their magic and directed away from them. Commanded it into Dawn Chamberlain and it felt weird.

Dawn felt the power boost right away. Before taking any chances of it going away Dawn put one hand each on both of their heads. She said the spell that would bring her in. It was weirder then the other times she was in their minds. This time she was in two minds at once. On one side of her she could see Cassie. She was laying on the floor on her mind, eyes close. Diana on the other side was also on the floor. Neither was talking. Neither was calling out for the other one. This was bad. Dawn couldn't help but think she was too late.

"Cassie, Diana," Dawn called, but there was no respond. "CASSIE, DIANA." That time she got through to them. Cassie moved.

"Dawn," Cassie said at the same time Diana said "Ms. Chamberlain." Dawn was relieved. She wasn't too late. The two girls still had life in them.

"Listen to me. I don't know how much time I have left. The mental link between the two of you is broken. To wake up you need to fix it. Here is what you have to do." Dawn went to explain it to the two girls. How they had to redirect their magic to the mental link. She explained exactly how to do it. "You two are the only ones who can do this. You're the only ones who can redirect your own magic in this way and the only ones who can access that link. You think you can do it?"

"Yes," both girls said together.

"Let me make this clear. If you can't do this. If the link doesn't get fixed you can and will die. You got that?" Both girls nodded and then Dawn was out of their minds.

"Well?" Jake asked.

"I got through to them. I told them what to do. Now it's up to them." Dawn felt the power boost the two witches gave her leave her and go back to where it belonged. Dawn had liked the power boost. It made her feel like she felt when she was a kid, but she knew the magic belonged to the two kids. That she was lucky to have any magic at all.

"What do we do now?" Melissa asked.

Dawn looked at Cassie. "We wait and hope they can do it."

Dawn sat in the chair they had put next to the bed. She watched Cassie for any sign of life. Jake was standing right next to her also keeping a close eye on Cassie. The four Balcoins stood off towards the wall waiting. Melissa sat on the bed near Diana and Patrick and Emily were standing right behind her. The group sat there waiting and waiting, but nothing happened. After a half hour Dawn was sure she had failed. The girls hadn't been able to do it.

"Emily we..." Dawn stopped as she saw Cassie's head move. By the look on Jake's face Dawn was sure he saw it too. Dawn got right next to Cassie and took hold of Cassie's hand. "Cassie, can you hear me?" Cassie hand tighten around Dawn's making the older women smile. "Diana, can you hear me." Diana moaned in respond. "Can you girls open your eyes?'

Diana was first to open her eyes and look around. She saw the four Balcoins, Dawn, Jake, Melissa, and then Melissa's parents. 'Mr. Glaser, Ms. Glaser?" Diana questioned looking around not sure why everyone was here. "What did I miss?"

"What do you remember?" Melissa asked wondering if she remembered talking to Dawn in her mind.

"I was looking for Faye and Adam in the woods. Ryder, Lucas, and I were goofing around." Diana answered. "Then I woke up here."

Jake was shaking Cassie. "Cassie, open your eyes."

"She's being lazy," Diana said and then screamed in Cassie's mind through the link. Cassie jumped up and opened her eyes looking at Diana.

'Not funny,' Cassie thought to her sister and looked around at everyone who was in her room. "Who are you?" Cassie pointed at Emily.

"Emily Glaser. Melissa's step mom," Emily answered. 'Nice to meet you."

"I didn't know Melissa had a step mom," Cassie said making Diana look at her. "What? Not like anyone tells me anything." Cassie turned around to Jake who was just staring at her. "You okay?' Jake brought Cassie closer to him and kissed her just like in the woods. Cassie was shocked for a minute and then kissed back.

"Seriously what did I miss?" Diana asked looking at the two and then saw Cassie's memory of in the woods. 'Nice memory there Cassie. Double date when Grant gets back.' When Cassie separated from Jake she gave Diana a look.

'Well that's the last thing I remember before waking up here. What happened?' Cassie asked her sister who shook her head to answer.

"Well I guess the mental link is back up and working," Dawn said shocking the two. Dawn then explained everything that happened to the two girls.

"So our dark magic is gone?" Diana asked with a smile.

"Don't look so happy about that." Patrick said. "You might not like your dark magic, but at least when it was with you six we knew where it was. Now that it's gone from you the question is where did it go?" No one had an answer and no one really felt like thinking about it.

"Cassie, can I talk to you?" Jake asked and Cassie nodded getting out of the bed. She and Jake went downstairs to have some privacy. "Cassie, I like you a lot and from that kiss we just shared and the one in the woods I can tell you like me too. So here is what I want to say. If you would let me I'll be a much better boyfriend to you then I was to Faye. What do you say?"

Cassie smiled and leaned in to kiss Jake. "Take that as a yes." Cassie said when she backed away. Jake had a smile on his face and put his arms around Cassie.

"I'll never let anything happen to you again," Jake whispered.

'Double date,' Cassie heard Diana repeat in her head and laughed. Jake gave her a look as Diana and the rest appeared downstairs. "I tested my magic. Dark magic is gone, but I can still use my light magic pretty well. Probably because I was using that long before my dark magic was released. What about you?"

Cassie truthfully hadn't thought about testing her magic, but she tried and found she was having trouble. "I'm more used to my dark magic," Cassie said a little disappointed.

"Both of you should be careful with your use of magic," Dawn said. "Your light magic is now keeping this link together and the link can't break. You two are stuck with each other for life."

Cassie smiled at Diana. "I'm okay with that." Diana nodded and smiled. Truthfully she was okay with that too.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye and Adam pulled up in front of Cassie's house. Hopefully the circle wouldn't be too angry that they had only just turned up. I mean they'd had other things to do, it's not like

They really cared either way. They quickly jumped out of the car, and went to the front of the house. Shooting each other nervous looks, Adam knocked on the door.

How were they going to explain where they'd been all day? Dawn answered the door, looking very relieved. Which was a good sign, hopefully it meant that everyone was Ok.

"Oh Adam, Faye. Where have you two been? Come on inside." Dawn said moving inside to let them in. Faye and Adam slowly walked through to the living room, where everyone was sat. Jake was sat next to Cassie, shooting worried glances his way constantly. Watching her every move.

"So is everyone Ok now?" Faye asked as they sat down.

"They are now," Jake muttered angry at the two of them. "It was pretty bad earlier though, and where were you two? We could have really used your help!" Jake told them frustrated.

"Well you obviously managed on your own." Faye replied sarcastically, staring at Jake.

"Yeah we did, with no thanks to you! What if someone had died? Huh, how would you feel then?" Jake demanded.

"It wasn't that serious though, was it?" Adam asked, speaking for the first time since he had arrived.

"Actually for a matter of fact, it nearly was that serious!" Jake shouted at Adam, storming over to where he was sat. Adam stood and the both of them ended up angrily staring at each other, waiting for someone to talk.

"Ok boys, calm down." Dawn told them, separating them. "Can't we just forget about it? They're here now."

"Dawn's right, let's just forget it. Faye and Adam probably have a good reason why they couldn't get here, right?" Diana asked.

"Yeah," Faye answered quickly "Umm, our phones weren't working, we only just found out when we got back to the Boathouse, Melissa's dad had called Ethan to tell him what was going on. As soon as Ethan told us we rushed over here." Faye explained quickly, hoping everyone wouldn't realise she was lying. Adam nodded, agreeing with her.

"Yeah we were really worried about you guys," Adam added, trying to convince them they were telling the truth.

Dawn and Jake looked like they didn't believe Faye's story but everyone else seemed to buy it. They all nodded in understanding and said it was Ok. Faye and Adam sat back down and listened as Dawn explained everything that had happened today. From a panicked call from Jake, to four of the Balcoin's waking up, whilst Cassie and Diana didn't. How they'd all tried to wake them up using magic. She ended by happily explaining that eventually Cassie and Diana had woken up! Faye got kind of angry seeing the look Dawn gave Cassie, Dawn was her mother. Not Cassie's!

Faye sighed, at least everyone believed her story. She looked over at Adam, he was staring into space. She sighed and leant back in the sofa, pretending to listen to what everyone was telling her about what had happened today.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Kate poured more Ice into the bowl of water in her hand, as the kettle on the stove began to scream for her attention. Setting the bowl down on a tray, she poured the kettle water into a cup, mixing various herbs and supplement pills in, adding just a spoonful of sugar, and two ice cubes for taste and safety. Picking up the tray she slowly walked over to a door just off of the kitchen that led down steps to the basement.

"I brought you some tea. You have to drink the entire thing." She called as she reached the middle stair.

Walking across the floor she came to a bed she'd set up many months ago, setting the tray down on a side table, she ran her hand lovingly over the face of the man laying there.

"Don't worry Charles, I'll figure out how to get this thing out of you soon enough, and then we can wake you up." Kissing his forehead she grabbed a small wash cloth dipping it into the Ice water and patting at his forehead.


	14. Revelation

**ATTENTION (SERIOUSLY, read it please): Since school has started for all the writers, we'll be updating every other week instead of every week. Sorry about that :(**

**Also, if you check out my profile you can find a link for a TSC roleplay that we run, and an absolutely BRILLIANT trailer that Marril96 made for us!**

**Plotline writers – Forcystus5, flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B**

**Writers –, Forcystus5, CharmedMilliE, ilove2dance, witch-witha-B, TtylerMaria**

**Editors – flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B, Your Sister. Duh**

**Graphic Designers – xleamalfoyx, Charlene F.**

**Twitter Account – ImaGleekBaby, flower gettin' lady**

**Tumblr Account – witch-witha-B**

**The twitter account is TSC_Project and the tumblr account is The Secret Circle Project. We also have a facebook page, you can find it by searching The Secret Circle Project.**

**Disclaimer: We don't own The Secret Circle**

Episode 14 – "Revalation"

Diana rolled over not wanting to get up and felt something next to her. There was someone sleeping in the same bed as her. At first her mind went to Grant, but then the events of the day before came back to her and she remembered she was sleeping in the same bed as Cassie. It really wasn't unusual to wake up next to Cassie though and by now Diana was used to it. Her sister was still asleep and Diana almost felt bad waking her up.

'Cassie, we have to get up,' Diana thought to her sister.

"No,' Cassie thought back as she turned around. 'Sleeping.' Diana almost gave in to her sister. She knew Cassie had trouble sleeping at times and the dark magic leaving her effected Cassie a lot worse than it did Diana. After everything was said and done yesterday Diana had felt horrible. She felt like she could sleep for an entire week even though she had just woken up from the coma she had been in for most of the day. Dawn had explained that the power drain from their dark magic leaving plus the magic drain from the light side having to keep up the mental link was causing them to be exhausted. She had basically forced them into bed.

'Cassie up,' Diana demanded and Cassie finally opened her eyes and looked at her sister.

'What are you doing in my bed?' Cassie asked her sister and then remembered for herself. When Dawn had forced them to bed she had also forced them to sleep in the same bed. She had said that their light magic was still new to keeping up the mental link and they shouldn't put too much of a strain on the link. Basically Dawn wanted them to stay close to each other for a while. 'Okay, back to bed.'

'Cassie, we have to get up,' Diana told her sister pulling the cover off of Cassie.

'I'm still exhausted,' Cassie complained sitting up. Diana knew how Cassie felt she could still feel it herself. The feeling of being completely drained yesterday had been awful. Diana herself wouldn't mind another couple of hours of sleep herself, but they had to get to school. 'Dawn won't mind if we miss a day.'

Diana rolled her eyes and smiled. Of course Cassie would pick up what she was thinking. "Cassie we have that history test today and I need to get a good grade on it. We can't leave each other right now because it's still too soon. Besides you need a good grade too.'

'How are we supposed to get good grades if we can't focus because we're too tired? I mean Diana we just woke up from a coma yesterday. I think we deserve a day off.' Cassie didn't even need Diana to respond to know Diana's answer. Diana was dead set on going to school and Cassie really didn't feel like arguing anymore. 'Okay fine, but I'm sleeping in Sanders class and you're giving me answer on the test.'

'Fine, whatever, Get ready.' Cassie got up and got changed, then the two walked downstairs together to find Jake asleep on the couch. Cassie smiled thinking about how cute Jake was. 'He's really cute sure." Diana said with a smile picking up on Cassie's thoughts. 'Why don't you wake him up while I get breakfast started?'

Diana walked into the kitchen as Cassie bent down next to the couch and kissed Jake on the lips, Jake's eyes slowly opened. "Morning," Cassie said.

Jake smiled as he sat up. "I can get used to waking up like this." Cassie smiled at him and Jake looked around. "Where's Diana? The two of you shouldn't be apart."

"Calm down. She's in the kitchen." Cassie was almost laughing. "I don't think the mental link will break. It's seems to be functioning pretty well."

Jake put his arms around Cassie. "Probably not, but Dawn said it was possible that it could break again. Your light magic isn't used to holding up the link and until it stabilizes again you and Diana have to be attached at the hip."

"Good thing we're always attached at the hip," Cassie laughed making Jake look at her. "Calm down. I'm sure you're all just over reacting. The link formed and Diana and I weren't attached at the hip then. What's so different now?"

"Your dark magic was ten times stronger than your light magic. It was able to hold up that link without the two of you even realizing some of it was being used for that. You two have to be careful. If the link breaks again we might not be able to get you up and I will not lose you. Like it or not you're stuck with an over protective boyfriend."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Cassie said and leaned in for a kiss.

'Hate to break up the moment sis, but breakfast is done.' Diana thought to Cassie.

Cassie smiled and got up. "Come on, breakfast. Diana made us eggs and toast." Jake got up and went into the kitchen to eat. The three sat at the table and just looked at each other

"By the way Jake you do need to calm down a bit. I'm sure the link will be fine," Diana said and Jake looked at her and then at Cassie. Cassie simply shrugged and smiled at Jake. "We're linked remember and it's going to stay that way."

Jake nodded. "Yeah but Dawn and Patrick even said after the first 24 hours your light magic should get use to holding up the link and then you'll be free to be away from each other. Which is good because I have to take Cassie out on a proper date." Cassie tried to hide the big smile that appeared on her face, but did a pretty poor job of it. Diana also had a smile on her face at Jake's words.

"So catch us up real fast. Any theories on what happened to our dark magic?" Diana asked. Jake took a bite out of his eggs and remained silent. Jake's silent was all the two needed. "Faye and Adam?" Jake nodded. "You really think they did something? You don't think we could all be over reacting. That maybe they don't have the book at all and they did nothing."

Jake took a deep breath. "It's possible, but they were MIA yesterday and I don't buy their excuse. They're up to something, I can tell when Faye is lying"

"Should we confront them?" Cassie asked. "I mean we're acting like everything is okay with them, and meanwhile we're suspecting them of stealing and doing something to our dark magic."

Diana shook her head. "No. I've known Adam and Faye a lot longer then you Cassie. If we confront them they'll never admit to it. Not unless we catch them doing something. Also they'll use it as an excuse not to talk to us. We need to let them believe we believe them. This way we can keep an eye on them."

No one said anything as they finished their breakfast. "Got to go to school," Cassie said getting up and giving Jake a kiss. "See you later." The two walked out leaving Jake alone in the house.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

The circle minus Jake were sat around a small table in the library; discussing everything that had happened over the last couple of days. They were all still trying to fully get their head's around what had happened. They were whispering between themselves, so their private conversation wasn't overheard.

"How are you two feeling now?" Melissa whispered to Cassie and Diana obviously still worried about them.

"We've told you, we're fine. Weaker than usual but honestly we're both Okay. Don't worry Melissa, we're going to be fine and so are the other Balcoin's." Diana assured her quietly, not wanting her to get upset worrying about them. Melissa nodded but still kept a close eye on the two of them to check they weren't lying.

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything, explain again what happened while we were out?" Cassie asked, confused.

"Well, to be honest we all panicked. Jake got you lot all in his car and called Faye's mum for help and crazily my dad came home when Claire and Dylan collapsed at mine. My dad and Dawn talked and decided it would be best to get all the Balcoin's to your house and then we could work out what to do. So after we all got to yours we tried to figure out what had happened. We were all panicking like crazy; really worried about you. We were really confused about what had happened, and then you know eventually the other four woke up and it was just you and Diana left unconscious. That was the scariest bit, the fact you two didn't wake up when everyone else did. We all tried spells to get inside your head's and wake you up. Then Dawn realised it was because of your mental link breaking. Well, you know the rest anyway don't you- you fixed it and woke up and then Faye and Adam turned up. So we were all together again, safe and sound." Melissa recounted the story again, even though they'd heard it countless times recently.

"So that's it, no witch hunters or anything freaky hanging around?" Cassie asked confused.

"No, we've told you there wasn't," Melissa replied, Adam and Faye sat together keeping quiet and basically avoiding the whole conversation. They had hardly said two words since they had sat down. When Cassie mentioned witch hunter's or dark creatures Faye and Adam shot each other a worried glance.

Melissa sat back and suspiciously watched the way these two were acting; something was up with them. They had been acting weirdly ever since they finally showed up after Cassie and Diana had woken up. It all didn't add up, her dad hadn't mentioned calling Ethan, but she didn't want to ask in case he told her he hadn't called him. She trusted Faye but lately she'd been acting differently- they rarely spent any time together anymore; she was always busy with Adam. Their friendship was non-existent lately. Even so she could still tell that something was up with Faye; hopefully it wasn't serious.

"You alright, Adam?" Diana asked obviously picking up on his discomfort too; she had been his girlfriend for years, she knew him well.

"Hmm, What? I'm fine, just worried about what's happening is all." Adam muttered quickly and Faye slipped her hand into his.

"Yeah, it's all crazy weird. I can't understand it either. Hopefully nothing like this will happen again; I don't really want a repeat of last year." Faye added, smirking as she said the last part.

"Where were you two the other day anyway?" Cassie asked them, as they were suddenly the topic of the conversation.

"We've already explained about our phones, we were just off having fun." Adam told them defensively.

"Oh and what fun it was." Faye added smirking.

"Please I don't want the details," Diana told her uncomfortable, everyone nodded in agreement.

"Okay, fine." Faye told her, shutting up.

"I'm sure this will all get explained eventually, we'll find out what happened. Then we'll make sure it won't happen again," Diana told everyone confidently.

Faye sat back, raising an eyebrow at Diana and snuggling into Adam- who was staring off into space. However apart from the two of them, everyone else agreed that they would find the truth out about what happened. They needed to know.

Stood in a dark corner of the library was Sanders. He watched suspiciously as the circle carried on talking about what they thought might have happened. He had secretly listened in on their conversation and now knew everything that had gone on. Deciding he had heard enough, Sanders quietly crept away and quickly left the library- as quietly as possible.

He'd learned enough for today.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Claire and Dylan quietly sat down on one of the small sofa's in their motel room; trying to be quiet so they didn't disturb Lucas and Ryder - who were both angry. Although they had been getting on better with their brother's lately, they didn't want to annoy them. Not today, when they were still fuming at the fact they'd lost their dark magic. They were also annoyed that Claire and Dylan didn't seem to really care that they had lost their dark magic. So today they were defiantly not going to annoy them. There were a few positive's to this situation, like the fact now they could practice their normal magic and make it stronger instead of depending on dark magic - like their father had. Claire had told Dylan not too point this out yet though as Lucas and Ryder were still too angry, they would just get mad at them for suggesting it. They were going to tell them later about their idea to practise normal magic.

"Are you Okay?" Claire asked worried about her big brothers.

"What do you think Claire? We've lost practically all our power, we're weak now and no better than ordinary witches." Lucas spat out, annoyed.

"Oh give over will you, it's not that bad." Dylan told him, hoping Lucas would shut up.

"Not that bad? Not that bad?" Ryder asked shaking his head, "We've lost our dark magic." He told him, emphasizing the point as if he was talking to a child.

"I know, but it's not like we've lost all our power, we still have magic." Dylan replied shrugging.

"What are you on about, we have hardly any left." Lucas snapped.

"No, we have all our normal magic left, like we had before Blackwell turned up and made us practise dark magic. We could start practising that again, to strengthen that magic up." Claire told him calmly.

"We still wouldn't be as powerful as before." Ryder sighed, upset.

"We could be, you never know." Claire told him, "If we work hard enough." She told him.

"It's worth a try," Dylan added.

Lucas and Ryder stared at each other, looking like they were having a silent conversation- if only they were linked like Cassie and Diana. After about a minute they turned back to where Claire and Dylan were sat, waiting patiently.

"Alright then, It can't do any harm," Ryder told them.

"Yeah anything's worth a try if it means we get stronger magic." Lucas agreed. "Even if it means going back to basics and learning how to use our normal magic all over again." He muttered, annoyed.

"It could be fun," Claire said, getting very unconvinced looks from Lucas and Ryder. Okay maybe with those two it wouldn't be fun.

"How about we go and talk to Cassie about it tomorrow?" Dylan suggested.

"Sounds perfect!" Claire enthused, a big grin on her face.

"Alright then" Ryder agreed, not looking that happy about it. Lucas just nodded to say Okay, before getting up and going to his room, muttering something about how to make his natural magic stronger.

Before long Ryder got up and left too. Once they were alone, Claire and Dylan smiled at each other smugly. They had succeeded in convincing Lucas and Ryder to let them learn how to use just their normal magic. They hadn't actually expected them to agree; they'd underestimated how desperate their brothers were for magic. Claire and Dylan decide to watch a movie as there wasn't much else to do, they'd just have to wait until Lucas or Ryder came back into the room and told them they were going to go talk to Cassie and Diana. They were pretty sure they wouldn't have to wait long.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Cassie, Diana, and Jake were all sitting at a table in the Boathouse sharing a plate of fries. "So, when Grant comes back I was thinking the four of us can go to the beach together. What do you think Cassie?"

Cassie thought it over for a second. "Beach sounds nice or we can go bowling or something." Cassie said and the two continued to talk.

"Don't the guys get a say in this at all?" Jake asked making both girls look at him. "Okay right stupid question. Just go ahead and talk, but I'm taking the last fry." Jake took the last one and put it in his mouth before either girl could complain. Both continued to happily talk to each other as though they didn't even hear Jake.

"Hey Mr. Conant, think we can get another plate of fries?" Cassie called over to Ethan Conant who was the only one she could see working at the moment, Adam and Faye had probably snuck off somewhere. The group heard Ethan say right away and the girls got back to their talking as Jake had to sit there and listen.

At the same time their new set of fries came out Dylan and Claire ran up to them. "Ooh, fries," The two said together sitting down next to Diana and starting to dig in. The three looked at each other confused.

"Sure, you're welcome to join us. Thanks for asking," Jake said as Lucas and Ryder also walked up. Ethan looked at the group.

"I'll get more fries," was the only thing Ethan said not even bothering to ask who these four were.

Lucas took the last empty seat at the booth next to Cassie as Ryder pulled over a chair from another table and sat. Jake pulled Cassie closer to him and kept a protective arm around her. No one said anything until Ethan arrived with another plate of French fries. Ethan walked away and the seven still just sat there looking at each other with the two youngest eating. "Okay, this is awkward," Cassie said. "Thank you for trying to help us yesterday. Jake filled us in on everything and it was very nice of you to be so caring." Diana and Jake gave Cassie a look surprised she said that.

"You're our little sisters. We wouldn't let you die," Ryder said. No one spoke for a while. "I have an idea to run by you all." Cassie, Jake, and Diana all gave him a look waiting for Ryder to continue. "We're all at a certain disadvantage right and it seems like it would be in all of our best interest if we put aside past differences and worked together for our mutual benefit."

Cassie, Diana, and Jake all looked at each other confused. Claire sensed the confusion and laughed. "He wants us all to work together to figure out what happened to our dark magic."

"Oh," Cassie and Diana said and gave each other a look.

'You think we can trust them?" Cassie asked her sister through their link.

'Well we all were working together to find Faye and Adam and the book. Ryder and Lucas did try and help us yesterday. I say what harm could it do?' Diana said and Cassie agreed.

"Okay," Cassie said. "We'll all work together."

"What?" Jake asked giving the girls a look. It was clear he wasn't too happy about.

Cassie turned around to face Jake. "They're our family and they were really helpful yesterday. It just makes sense to work with them." Jake still didn't look too happy about it. "Please Jake, play nice for me."

Jake looked at Cassie a second longer and then nodded. "Fine, for you." Cassie smiled and then kissed Jake.

"Aw, you two are such a cute couple," Claire said as she took another fry from the plate.

"You better treat my sister right or I'll beat you up," Dylan said trying to act big and manly. Cassie, Jake, and Diana looked at each other and had to stop themselves from laughing. They highly doubted that without his dark magic Dylan could do anything to Jake.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Faye was making her way to the Boathouse alone, Adam had scampered after school needing to get back to help his dad out and get him off his back. He hadn't even bothered to ask Faye if she wanted to come, it felt weird between her and Adam. They had this huge secret that they could only talk to each other about and you would have thought that secrets kept you close but they didn't, they tore you apart.

What made it even worse was that the only friends, or people she hung out with, were the Circle members and she and Adam had a mutual agreement to stay away from them as much as possible. Faye was sure that Jake had seen past her facade yesterday, but was trying not to worry herself about it. Jake wasn't her concern anymore.

Walking into the Boathouse, she saw Adam running around cleaning and sorting things out for the after school rush that was a daily occurrence in the week and earned the Boathouse most of its money. Sitting down at the near side of the bar, Faye made herself comfortable as she watched Adam. She quickly came to the conclusion that Adam stressed and worried too much, he needed to just own up to his dad and tell Ethan to get himself sorted before he totally ruined Adam's life. Faye would have done it herself but Adam was always so defensive about his dad and his 'problem'. Things were bad enough with the rest of the Circle, she didn't need Adam to be annoyed at her too.

The only problem was when Faye was bored she over thought every situation, she thought about the situation with Adam, then the situation with Ethan, the situation with the rest of the Circle and finally all the things with the Balcoin demon. There was always so much going on in their lives and none of it seemed to be good or even remotely good.

Faye was shook from her thoughts when she heard Adam's voice,

"You want anything?" he asked

"Hmmmmm Coke and cheesy fries?" she asked and Adam simply smiled,

"Coming right up." he told her.

It was so much easier for them to be around each other without the Circle, earlier in the library had been so awkward. Faye was the best at lying and concealing things but she felt so unsure of herself like everyone could tell that she and Adam were keeping something from them, which they were but that wasn't the point. The point was that without the Circle around, Adam and Faye were still the same people they had always been not the nervous and fidgety people they had been earlier that day. And Faye knew that both she and Adam liked being this way better.

When Adam brought over her coke and fries, Faye stood up leaning over the bar to give Adam a kiss before he was called off to take someone else's order. Faye took her time to drink and eat, she knew Adam would be busy for ages. Other people from school would be in and out all night keeping the place busy for a good four hours, but Faye was sure at some point Adam would have a break so they could talk.

Ever since the talk with the rest of the Circle this morning Faye had been thinking about what had happened the last few days and knew she wasn't the only one. It had been nearly a whole day since Balcoin had last made contact with them and Faye wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing, Faye wasn't really sure of much right now. She was sure she didn't want the Circle to find out about the Balcoin demon and that it was Faye and Adam that released him, she was also sure that she needed to work better on her mask around the Circle and she was very sure that she was going to have to be cautious around Balcoin. He had been the one to nearly kill Cassie and Diana by taking their dark magic, but then he had all but told them to check on Cassie and Diana so did that make him good or evil.

Faye really wasn't sure anymore, good, evil, it all seemed to blur together. When Adam came over to clear up her stuff she stopped him,

"Take a break?" She said more of a request than a question. Looking around Adam nodded and let Faye through to the back. Once they were in the back Adam closed the door looking slightly concerned,

"What's wrong?" He asked

"What? Nothing." Faye told him then sat down "Maybe something" she said thoughtfully. Adam sat down on the table and watched Faye carefully waiting for her to continue.

"I was just thinking about Balcoin." Faye told him,

"Why?" he asked and Faye shrugged,

"Because of the Circle meeting" she paused as Adam let out a small sigh "What?"

"I just don't think we should worry about what the rest of the Circle thinks, I mean you never did before."

"I care when people get hurt. I am not Cassie's biggest fan but what we did with the skull almost killed Cassie and Diana. Balcoin has already tricked you a good couple of times and that was when it was a skull and wasn't alive." Faye told him "I don't think we should trust it or do anything we don't want to do, it can't make us do anything"

"We said we would help Faye and I am not going back on it" Adam told her standing up and causing Faye to raise an eyebrow,

"What so now you are being loyal to a demon?" she asked "Seriously you are going to side with the demon that possessed you and made you hurt the people around you?"

"This is not all about you Faye."

"I never said that it was!" Faye told him, her temper firing up "You just assumed that! I wasn't the only one hurt after you hid the skull at the beach" she said and Adam looked at her angrily "I'm good at putting two and two together Adam. You didn't just hurt me you hurt Diana as well."

"Leave it alone Faye" he said moving to the door, ready to leave.

"Why? Are you really going to hurt me again Adam?" She asked and Adam turned to look at her,

"You know it wasn't me that hurt you, it was the skull" he said and Faye rolled her eyes.

"But you let the skull in, you couldn't get rid of it" she said

"So now it's all my fault?"

"You were the one who couldn't get rid of the skull, you were the one that let it in, you were the one that hurt people and you were the one that said we should do the spell that made the skull real. So yeah I think you have more blame on your side"

"Says the girl who wanted more power." He told her "You could have easily said no Faye. Maybe you just can't handle it all, the lying and the dark magic. Maybe it is too much for you to handle"

"Maybe you need to look in a mirror and see who has changed more because of the dark magic. If I wanted to date an ass I would have tried to get back with Jake" Faye told him before standing up and brushing past him. Once she was out the door she grabbed her things and headed out of the Boathouse.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

"Sanders is definitely up to something." Cassie said. "But how do you guys know about him?"

"We've seen him hanging around a lot of the magic shops." Lucas explained. "He just..."

"There's something not right about him." Claire piped up. "I can feel it whenever I get near him."

"He does know an awful lot about magic." Diana admitted.

Jake nodded, adding, "Yeah, and from what I've heard he has some sort of fascination with everyone in the Circle."

"So we all agree?" Diana asked. "You know, I know where he lives."

All four Balcoins got devilish looks in their eyes. "This is why I'm starting to like you." Ryder joked.

As they chattered on about going to see what evidence they could find in Sander's house, Melissa was sitting, unmoving, only a few booths away. They were going to break into his house during the day?

She gulped. She could still remember how powerful his magic was. This wouldn't end well for any of them.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Dawn walked down the aisle and went to grab the milk. On her way home from work today she had decided to stop at the store and pick up some things she was running low on. She took a gallon of milk and checked the expiration date. "Dawn?" Dawn heard and turned around to find Emily behind her.

"Emily, you have a day off from the hospital today?" Dawn questioned putting the milk in her cart and looking at her friend. She hadn't seen Emily since Cassie and Diana had woken up from their magical comas.

"I took off. Didn't feel like going in and there were a couple of household things that needed to be taken care of." Emily said and looked around. "It was an exciting day yesterday wasn't it."

Dawn thought it over. "Scary, a little exciting, but there were no witch hunters or demons, and no one died. I would call that a good day." Dawn whispered and Emily froze for a second.

"I guess I should get used to these things now." Emily said and Dawn decided not to argue. With the kids using magic there was bound to be more days like yesterday and even worst days. There was really nothing anyone could do about it besides being prepared for anything. "I was so scared for Melissa when I found out. I know she's not really my daughter, but I've been with Patrick since Melissa was little. She's the closest thing I have to a daughter and there's nothing I can do to help her with these things." Dawn nodded understanding how Emily felt. "I wish Melissa had told us sooner she was practicing. There might have been something we could have done to help them last year."

"They were scared. They knew we tried to hide it from them and didn't want us to know. It was understandable." Dawn said choosing to leave out her part in everything that happened last year. Since Charles was dead she had to suffer alone with the mistakes the two of them had made. She couldn't tell anyone.

"I wish I could just protect Melissa from the world. I'm so scared about what could happen to her."

"Last year when Faye called me saying she was captured by witch hunters I was terrified. I was so scared about what could happen to her. Now I also have Cassie to worry about. That girl has become like a second daughter to me and when Jake called saying something was wrong with her yesterday you don't know how scared I was. I wish I could protect them too, but I'm doing the best I can by being Cassie's guardian and being there for the circle. It's all we can do."

Emily nodded. "At least they finally told us and at least they have great friends to confide in." Dawn agreed with a smile. "Well I have got to go pay and get home. I'll see you later."

"Yeah, bye," Dawn said.

Emily started to walk away and then turned around. "Dawn, yesterday you said you had power because Kate split her power between you and Charles right?"

Dawn nodded. "Yeah that was..." Dawn looked around to make sure no one would overhear, but there wasn't anyone around them "to help the kids get away from the witch hunters. Why?"

"Well I saw Kate in town a few days ago. I think she moved back into the Meade house. I thought you would find that interesting." Emily walked away leaving a confused Dawn behind.

Dawn had no idea why Kate would move back to Chance Harbor. After Kate had retired from her work she had left the town and had very rarely come back. There was no reason for her to be here now. With Charles dead and Diana wanting nothing to do with the women who at one time was thought to be her grandmother, there was nothing for Kate here. Why would Kate return? Dawn thought about it for a minute, but then shrugged it off. There was no reason to worry about it.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

The group stood outside Sanders house. "How are we going to open the door?" Diana asked looking around.

"I'm pretty sure we can still handle a simple lock unlock spell," Lucas said angrily thinking Diana meant they wouldn't be able to open the door without their dark magic.

"I'm sure too, but if it's like his office the spell won't work," Diana said making Lucas feel a bit like an idiot.

Jake looked at the door and then took out his wallet. From his wallet he pulled out his credit card and bent down at the door. "Are you picking the lock?" Cassie asked her boyfriend surprised. Jake nodded. "You know how to do that?"

'The witch hunters taught me," Jake explained as he continued to work on the lock. Not long later Jake opened the door. He gave the group a smile.

Cassie smiled and gave him a small kiss on the cheek." You're a lifesaver Jake. If I had known you could pick lock we would have used you to get into Sanders office." The two walked into the house followed by Diana, Lucas, Ryder, Claire, and Dylan.

The house looked pretty normal. The first room they went into was the living room. There were books and papers everywhere you looked. Cassie picked up one of the books. "Well here's a copy of his creepy notebook," Cassie mumbled holding up the book.

Jake was looking through some paper. "Well looks like he making up a test for you guys. Want to steal the answers?" Everyone turned and gave him a look. "What? As long as we're sneaking into a teacher's house we might as well do something normal kids would do in this situation." The look Diana gave him made Jake put the papers down and raise his hands in surrender causing the others to laugh.

"Okay, we have to search. Cassie, Jake, and I will continue to look around here for something. Lucas, Ryder can you go check the bedrooms and Claire and Dylan try closets and maybe the basement. There has to be something here to show us what Sanders is up to." Diana said. Lucas looked annoyed that she was giving orders, but Ryder gave Lucas a nod to show he approved of Diana's plan and the two went to the back of the house. Claire and Dylan went right away to follow their sisters' orders. Meanwhile Diana, Cassie, and Jake continued to look through the books and papers in the living room.

Across the street Melissa watched the house. She was worried about her friends. She was the only one who knew Sanders was half witch and she really wished she had told them now. She had promised not to because Sanders saved her, but she still didn't trust the man. Not at all.

"Okay, it's going to be fine. They're going to look around and then leave. Sanders will never know they were here.' Melissa said to herself to calm down. It didn't work for long as she saw a very familiar face walking towards the house with books in his hands. Sanders was going home. "Damn," Melissa said not sure what to do to help her friends.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

When Faye finally got home she trudged up the steps and burst through the door almost slamming it as she turned to close it again. She honestly didn't care if her mum was in and could hear her because honestly she was so angry at Adam right now. I mean how dare he talk to her like that, she was trying to be good and sensible, which didn't happen often, and he just threw it back in her face. He was supposed to be the sensible one, good old reliable Adam. But things had changed, Adam wasn't good old reliable boring Adam anymore, that was one of the main reasons the two were together now. He may not have been as much of a jerk as Jake but he wasn't the same person he used to be, none of them really were.

They had seen and done things they had never even imagined and they had all changed, whether it was for the better or not wasn't really as simple of a question as it seemed. But Faye was 100% sure that she could tell when something was wrong, she knew when something was up with Jake and he turned out to be a witch hunter and she knew when something was up with Eva and she had killed Lee using Faye's magic. So understandably Faye knew when something was up and she definitely did not trust Balcoin, I mean really who would trust a demon that was trapped in a skull that could control your mind.

When she thought about it, it all seemed so unrealistic. Not just the stuff with the skull, but their whole lives with magic, demons, crystals, death, possession and people coming back from the dead. Someday they were all going to wake up in a mental hospital and this would probably all be a crazy fantasy world they locked themselves in. Faye snorted slightly as that thought crossed through her head maybe she was crazy after all.

Making her way up to her room she thought some more about her almost argument with Adam that she had had earlier. She had known that Adam's dad had been making a huge deal out of Adam being out a lot and not helping out as much at the boathouse, so earlier he had basically shot out of school to get there before the mad rush of students.

And obviously being the amazing girlfriend that she was she had gone to the boathouse to just hang around while he worked. But it was obvious Adam wasn't in the best mood and Faye got to thinking about the Balcoin demon and the suspicions she had always had, he seemed to know too much and Faye didn't like it one bit. But as usual when Faye told anyone she was suspicious about something they just shrug it off until someone ends up dead or almost dead, didn't they ever learn that Faye actually had a good feeling for this kind of thing?

When she had been suspicious about Jake, Adam had been the person she had gone to. So probably stupidly Faye had thought that Adam would understand or at least try to understand her doubts about Balcoin. But no of course Faye is wrong and being too suspicious and maybe she should just run back to the circle if she can't handle the Balcoin's dark magic. Of course she could handle the magic, Adam couldn't it was like the magic had changed him. But when Faye thought about it when Cassie had activated her dark magic she had almost strangled Adam, dark magic changed a person. But Adam wasn't going around strangling people so that was a plus. He was just a moody jerk that Faye was going to ignore until he apologized a good couple of times and brought her some chocolate, every girls loves a bit of chocolate.

Faye shook her head as that thought crossed her mind, she had never really been one of those girls who ate loads of sweets and chocolate. She was probably just hungry, although Adam had got her some cheesy fries when she was at the Boathouse. And now she was back to thinking about how much of a jerk Adam was being, there had been no reason at all for him to be so rude to her. Yes she wanted the power but she didn't want anyone to get hurt because of the power, they had all seen what their individual magic, especially Cassie's dark magic, did to people. That could not happen again.

Having the power and the Balcoin demon around had to be safe for all of them. Faye would stick with it, she would keep the power and ignore the feeling. She had no proof at all that the Balcoin demon meant any harm to anyone, as long as he was allowed to get on with his business no one would get hurt. But if someone did Faye wouldn't let him get away with it and she wouldn't let Adam forget that she had been right all along.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Diana was digging through desk drawers, while Cassie rifled through papers on the desk and Jake was in the corner looking at some books.

"You guys find anything yet?" Jake asked

"Nothing. Cassie?" Diana replied and Cassie just shook her head.

"There has to be something here though, keep looking." Diana instructed

"Maybe the others have found something by now."

Barely any time had passed but the trio's hopes shrank more and more with each passing moment. They heard footsteps and all panicked until they saw the small figures of Dylan and Claire. Diana had her hand pressed to her heart as the two walked into the room, Dylan covered in dust.

"Find anything?" Cassie asked and both twins shook their heads,

"Nothing but dust" Dylan said shaking his head and dislodging the dust in his hair causing Claire to sneeze.

"Bless you" Cassie said and Claire simply smiled,

"Nothing in the bedrooms" came the distant shout of Lucas as he and Ryder headed back to the living room, "Only one of them looks like it is lived in the others are caked in dust so we didn't risk going in"

"Find anything in here?" Ryder asked looking around the room at the group, Cassie, Diana and Jake all shook their heads.

"Nothing, there is so much in here to look through..." Diana said and you could hear the defeated tone in her voice.

"Then we'll all look" Ryder suggested and the others simply nodded and spread through the room.

Cassie turned to Diana who simply shrugged and turned back to her pile of papers. It seemed like an eternity had passed, the only sound passing between them was the rustling of papers and the ticking of the clock, but even that was toned out to the point that when both Cassie and Diana's phones went off in unison they all jumped.

Pulling out their phones panic set in as they both read the text

_Get out __NOW__!_

"Uh, guys?" Jake's shaky voice caused them to look up, straight into the face of Mr. Saunders.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Melissa drummed her hands frantically on the dashboard of her car. What the hell was she supposed to do?! The Circle was trapped inside Sander's house and he'd just gone in. She could still remember how easily he had stopped Lucas and Ryder. He could do whatever he wanted to the Circle, and it would probably be effortless. None of the Balcoins, Cassie, or Diana had dark magic anymore, which meant that they were basically powerless. She shuddered, and pulled out her cell phone.

"What?" Faye snapped as soon as she picked up. "Look, I'm kinda busy—"

"I just saw the Balcoins, Cassie, Diana, and Jake all go into Sander's house, and Sanders just went in there a few minutes ago." Melissa interrupted, effectively shutting Faye up. "I'm afraid he's going to hurt them, and they barely have enough magic to defend themselves."

"Please." Faye snorted. "He's just a really sketchy person. Jake still has magic, he'll be able to protect them from some guy."

Melissa bit her lip nervously. She'd promised Sanders she wouldn't tell anyone else about him, but did that matter anymore? It wasn't like she owed him (well, yes, she did, she reminded herself. But she'd do anything to save her friends). "Faye, he saved me from Lucas and Ryder once. With _magic_. He's dangerous, Faye, and you need to get here as soon as possible. Bring Adam too."

"Okay." Faye said, and hung up.

Melissa put her phone down and went back to nervously chewing her lip. She hoped Faye and Adam would get there soon.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

"Damn it." Faye said to no one in particular, dialling Adam's number. She hoped he wouldn't hang up on her or get really angry, like he'd been when she'd seen him last. "Adam?"

"What now, Faye?"

So he was going to be bitchy. "Adam, Melissa just called me." She summarized what she'd been told, praying he would understand how sire the situation was. "So we need to get down to the creepers place now." She concluded. "Because we have all that extra power from Balcoin, so we should be able to fight Sanders off if he gets any ideas."

"Fine." Adam didn't let her reply, just hung up.

That would have to be good enough. Faye sent a quick text to Melissa as she jumped into the car, saying she'd be there in a few minutes.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Mr. Sanders looked at the group with a stone hard serious expression.

"Well, what do we have here?" He asked aloud as they took a step backwards. "Breaking and entering someone's home is against the law, or so I am lead to believe. Do you have anything to say for yourselves or should I just call the police?"

"_Oh god, what if he is just some weird, albeit normal guy?" _Cassie asked worried.

"_Then we are screwed," _Diana thought somberly.

Lucas took a step forward and gave Sanders a low-level glare, as if that was his way of being polite. "We were helping our sisters changing their grades for your class," He claimed.

Mr. Sanders raised an eyebrow and then turned to Cassie and Diana. "Is that right?"

Cassie and Diana hesitated but reluctantly agreed. It was better than explaining the alternative.

Mr. Sanders stared and stared for so long Jake was starting to understand why his circle called him the creeper.

"Well," He finally said. "Under normal circumstances, I would say I am very disappointed of you but these aren't normal circumstances."

Diana blinked. "Why not?"

Mr. Sanders let loose his famous knowing smirk. "Because I know you are lying, little witches."

Everyone was instantly on edge. For weeks they have suspected he knew about them but only now were they finally getting a confession.

"I was actually wondering how long it would take you to break into my house with all the clues I have been leaving you," He went on. "The hints, the classes, the notebook, the family tree, the magical lock; and even with all that you didn't broke in sooner to look for answers. Now of _that _I am disappointed," He stated while shaking his head. "I would have thought that after everything you have been through, you would have been more careful. But no, you wait until it's almost too late to act and when you actually do, you don't even bother to watch your back in case I show up," He reprimanded. "You could really use some caution in classes."

Everyone actually blushed in embarrassment. They may be angry and confused at the teacher but everything he said made sense. Why didn't they take him more seriously?

"Regardless, it matters not," Mr. Sanders continued. "Because you can learn from past mistakes so you don't repeat them again. Take Lucas for example," He pointed out.

He frowned in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"I mean, instead of rushing towards me to hit me like the last time you try to get me off your trail with a plausible lie," He said. "That's progress."

Lucas didn't know how to respond to that so he just shut up. Ryder on the other hand was looking at him more carefully.

"Like last time?" He inquired.

Mr. Sanders nodded. "Yes and you did well in restraining him by the way," He added. "My thunder storms can be quite nasty."

Lucas´ eyes widen and those of Claire, Dylan and Ryder weren't far behind.

"That was you!" They said at once.

"Him?" Jake asked on alert.

"He summoned a lightning storm and threatened to kill us!" Claire shriek.

Without thinking things further the seven witches were preparing to lash out with magic. But before they could toss him around mentally, grabbed a staff sized Canadian totem of an Eagle he had by a wall besides him and pointed the bird's eyes toward them. Without warning, all of them were paralyzed, as if the glare in the eagle's carved face was spelled.

Mr. Sanders then put the staff by the wall again. "I am not done talking," He said his voice crystal clear.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Everyone struggle with the paralysis but the grip of the magic around them was too strong.

"Don't fight it," Sanders warned. "The magic on that staff is designed to feed on panic and helplessness to increase the restraints on you.

"What do you want?" Jake growled.

"To talk, obviously," Mr. Sanders said. "If I wouldn't want to listen to you, I would have paralysed your tongues as well."

"Talk about what?" Cassie demanded.

Before he could answer, the front door was blasted open and Faye, Melissa and Adam stormed in. Faye looked around quickly and then telekinetically moved one of his heavy folklore notebooks.

"Take your creepy book back," She shouted as Sanders blocked the incoming hardcover with his staff.

Sanders scowled as the pages were ripped apart. "That was one of the first edition books, young lady."

"And what are you going to do about it?" Faye retorted.

"Glad you asked," He said as he pointed at their faces with the eagle's glare.

Instantly, Adam, Faye and Melissa were immobilized. Faye scowled as she couldn't move. Even with her new powers she couldn't break the restraining spell. Melissa looked at Mr. Sanders scared to death and Adam just gave a glare of his own.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Sanders sighed, watching the frozen Circle members with an almost tired expression. "I don't want to hurt any of you."

"Says the man that is using magic to hold us against our will." Faye retorted. She tried to struggle despite the bonds of magic, but she couldn't move. All she could do was scowl at him, since only her facial features were unfrozen.

"I moved here to find your Circle, but not with malicious intentions." He said. "And the only reason that I froze you was because if I hadn't you would have killed me with your combined magic. I'm trying to help! I know from experience that Circles like your own are constantly in danger, and I managed to keep you all together when you were fighting. I sent that girl to talk to you—" that was aimed at Diana, "—when you and Cassie weren't getting along. She was just a magical projection. I've helped keep your Circle together."

Diana's face was a bright red, and she looked angrier than Cassie had ever seen her. 'For your information," she hissed, "Cassie and I would have made up on our own! You didn't have to be a creeper and send some fake person. And we're not a Circle anymore, not technically. We're not even bound. Oh, and we won't' be re-binding the Circle again anytime soon, if that's what you want."

Faye smirked, impressed. "I never knew you were so vicious."

"Shut up, Faye, this really isn't the time."

Sanders sighed and stared at Diana. "Do you know what the Spirit World is in shamanist magic?

Diana frowned in confusion. "No, but what does that has to do with anything?"

"Everything," He said slowly. "The Spirit World is a realm of magic that can only be accessed by those who possess an exceptionally strong connection to the forces of nature required to practice shamanist magic properly. Someone like me," He added.

Everyone glanced at each other with their feet still immobilize and then looked back at him.

"So?" Lucas asked.

"So, it was thanks to that realm that I find out about you," He claimed. "I usually enter trances to access the Spirit World in my quests to increase my knowledge about magic but one particular day everything was clearer than usual and soon enough I found out why. The legendary Crystal Skull was reformed and the sheer scale of its power and darkness sent ripples across the fabric of space to warn all those who had access the Spirit World at the time."

Everyone looked surprised but choose not to comment.

"After much searching, I realised I was the only one connected to the realm of magic at the time of the warning and thus I decided to use one of the powers unique to Spirit World: Divination, also known as the magical art of revealing what the future holds," Sanders went on. "That is not a precise art because the future is in constant motion and there are many possible futures but while I was connected to the realm the day of reformation of the Crystal Skull, my foresight was far clearer than usual and such, I managed to see a few very possible futures. And one of them in particular was what spurred my decision to help mend your relationship," Sanders said as he looked at Cassie and Diana. "You two would have never made up."

There was an absolute silence for two seconds right before the girls exploded. "WHAT!" They screamed together not believing it.

"You are lying!" Cassie growled.

"Yes! We would have made up eventually!" Diana agreed.

Sanders put his hands in his pocket and took out the jade pendant with the bear. "I wage you my whole magical artefact collection that this version of events could have happened," He declared as he showed them off his shamanist relic.

Cassie and Diana looked at each other. "What version of events?" They said together

Sanders sighed. "I don't know all the details. All I know was that the most likely future turn had I not intervene, would have been full of fights between you two as your relationship continued to deteriorate. Then, a few weeks into the future some really big fight would have happened between the two of you. Cassie had become so furious about something that she would have knocked Diana out. Diana would have woken up hours later, but Cassie would have been gone. All her possessions taken and she would have left never to return. Then something awful would have happened here because Cassie wouldn't have been around to help. This would have destroyed the world as we know it. What that is I do not know, but I know its better that I fixed the relationship between the two of you before Cassie ran away."

Cassie gasped and her eyes got wet. She couldn't believe she would leave her sister or Jake or her Circle. Sanders sighed. "I am sorry to be the one to break this to you but I hate it when family members fight each other. Maybe I had no right to interfere but I am sure you can agree with me that you prefer what has happen thus far between you than the alternative I mentioned."

They didn't reply but they did nod slowly.

"Well, moving on there was another vision I had of the very likely future," He stated. "It was of a dark creature, full of evil power being released, with Chance Harbour as the place of its comeback. So, I decided to come here and try to figure things out; maybe stop the creature from being released but it seems I wasn't fast enough."

Faye's face grew concerned but she shrugged it off a moment later. No one noticed as the other were staring at Sanders.

"What makes you say that?" Ryder asked interested.

"The fact you six lost your dark magic," Sanders stated. "Losing an ancestral source of dark power that runs through generations doesn't just happen, at least not easily and much less overnight. Unless…"

"Unless what?" Lucas pressed on.

"Unless what originally cursed your bloodline to shift from light to dark is not in your bloodline anymore," He answered. "What else, though, I am not sure. Like I said, such things have been lost to history. I don't think there is anyone alive to remember."

"Yes, there is one," Faye thought wisely. "And it shouldn't be able work a cell."

"The question now is where did all that dark power go?" Sanders asked and no one answered. "Well, I don't know either but I would like to help you."

Jake frowned. "What do you get out of it?"

Sander chuckled. "Why, the thrill of being part of one of the biggest and most dangerous magical mysteries of all time of course. I like to be in places where interesting things are happening."

Looks were exchanged. There's nothing we can do to escape. Cassie told Diana.

I know, especially without dark magic. Diana was still watching Sanders, afraid he'd be suspicious of the silence. But really, he must've been following us everywhere.

I know, I know. But... I think we should just believe him. I mean, if he was going to hurt us, he would have already. Besides, we kind of owe him," Cassie admitted with some sadness.

Diana nodded "Fine, we believe you and accept your help." She said, rather shortly. "We don't fully trust you as of right now but enough for the time being."

Almost as soon as the words had left her mouth, Diana felt her whole body return to normal. She saw that Jake had instantly gone to Cassie, checking to make sure she was okay. Oddly enough, Adam didn't move to see if Faye was fine. He just stood there, looking mutinous.

"Thank you." Sanders said. He did sound sincere. "And you can talk to me about any magic problems, okay?"

They all nodded, heading towards his door as he spoke. "Oh, by the way..." Diana glanced at Jake. "He was kidding about changing grades on our papers. Just in case you were wondering,"

Sanders laughed. "Of course."

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Balcoin couldn't help but frown as he listened to the conversation inside the house through a dark spell. The ancient demon already had suspicions about him from back when he was still inside Cassie and Diana. He would be a fool not to, especially after he mentioned Francis in a class and you don't survive for thousands of years by being a fool. He decided he would leave the subject alone for now as he couldn't interfere with Faye and Adam inside but if the so called teacher may be a threat to his plans he should get him out of his way.

"_But I can wait," _Balcoin thought. _"I still have some time to wait before I can set my plan in motion anyway and it never hurts to be cautious. First I should figure out who Sanders really is, as well as his strengths and weaknesses before doing anything rash. Shamans that can access the Spirit World should not be taken lightly."_

Then he chuckled darkly as he started to leave. "Destroying the world as we know it eh?" He said aloud to the empty street. "Not quite but close enough, Sanders, close enough." 

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

All he wanted was to just forget the entire day. Was that too much to ask? Apparently so, because the minute Adam shut his eyes he saw Balcoin, standing in the mist. Ever since he'd touched the skull so long ago, he'd been seeing things. The vague demons were now replaced with Balcoin; eyes glittered, beckoning Adam to join him. Oh, but he already had. He'd given up long ago, because it was too hard to fight the pull of dark magic. Besides, it was easier. It was much easier than fighting.

_Creating chaos just to prove we're alive_

_Demolition of a delicate kind_

_Midnight confessions keep on blurring the line_

_Say you're here on my side_

_Want you here on my side_

So he let the dreams take him, because they weren't as terrifying when he was one of the demons.

As for Faye, she moaned fitfully in her sleep. Her dreams had been pleasant at first; kissing a faceless boy—literally faceless, features completely blank—then doing some sort of spell with the Circle. At least it seemed to be the Circle. It was too dark to tell, and all she knew was that long brown curls brushed her cheek whenever she leaned to the left.

Then a dark figure appeared, right in front of her. Like all the other faceless people in her dreams, he stood there, waiting for her to do something. He radiated something from him... something that was stirring an adverse feeling of distrust. That was when his features slowly came into existence. It was Balcoin, laughing at her.

_You keep my heart under the cover of night_

_Could be the devil in a clever disguise_

_Temptation leads us, it's too late for goodbye_

_Say you're here on my side_

_Want you here on my side_

_Come undone with me_

She was so very afraid of him, but the magic was too strong. She found herself kissing him now, even as her stomach twisted in disgust.

_Diving into destruction_

_Come undone with me_

_In the state of seduction_

_Come undone with me_

But she didn't resist enough to get away, because she loved the feel of power pulsing in her veins, and it would always be too seductive to resist.

**Also, a note from one of our writers. Please read it, it's really important:**

**now please READ what i have to say here. we get a lot of people talking about or complaining about the couples that we choose. i am going to tell u that for the rest of this season the couples will be Faye/Adam and Cassie/Jake. We choose these couples**

**because of two reasons. one they fit better into our plot line with the skull and two we have people in our group who really like these couples.**

please remember we are planning a season 3. we are looking at all possible couple combinations for season 3. we've even given serious thought and will probably be adding an OC as a love interest for one of the girls. so if the couple you like has not been mentioned yet like Diana/Grant or we've only slightly mentioned it like Melissa/Adam, or we seem to have completely destroyed it like Cassie/Adam please no anything is possible in season 3.

also i would like everyone to remember that i highly doubt Andrew Miller would have put Adam/Cassie and Faye/Jake together in season 2 and kept it that way. the show needs some relationship drama. besides these characters are teenagers. they're not just going to stick with one person and not date anyone else. it's a little unrealistic.


	15. Showtime

**ATTENTION (SERIOUSLY, read it please): Since school has started for all the writers, we'll be updating every other week instead of every week. Sorry about that :(**

**Also, if you check out my profile you can find a link for a TSC roleplay that we run, and an absolutely BRILLIANT trailer that Marril96 made for us!**

**And thank you so much to neondiamond101 on youtube for the wonderful video, we appreciated it so much! It means a lot to us that you read this fanfiction and really enjoy it. (Also, flower getting' lady says: THANK YOU SO MUCH! I can't believe you liked that fic, it was written in like half an hour and I was so sure no one had read it. I do a lot of original stuff too, and glad to hear you're a writer as well. But yeah, I was beside myself when I listened to your video, I started crying, I was so happy.)**

**Plotline writers – Forcystus5, flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B**

**Writers –, Forcystus5, CharmedMilliE, ilove2dance, witch-witha-B, TtylerMaria**

**Editors – flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B, Your Sister. Duh**

**Graphic Designers – xleamalfoyx, Charlene F.**

**Twitter Account – ImaGleekBaby, flower gettin' lady**

**Tumblr Account – witch-witha-B**

**The twitter account is TSC_Project and the tumblr account is The Secret Circle Project. We also have a facebook page, you can find it by searching The Secret Circle Project.**

**ANON REVIEW REPLIES at the end.**

**Disclaimer: We don't own The Secret Circle**

Episode 15 – "Showtime"

Faye let a huge sigh escape her lips before eating another cheesy fry. She was totally bored but it was her own fault really, she had decided to head to the Boathouse after Adam had told her they needed to spend more time together. But that quality time obviously meant that Faye would be sat bored out of her mind eating cheesy fries while Adam was working because his dad was passed out in the back, again.

Seriously what did Adam expect from her anyway? He shouted at her one day and basically ignored her and then he was grovelling at her door the next day as soon as her mom went out, she had to admit the grovelling was sort of funny but in the end she had forgiven him. Admittedly she had been a bit rash with her sudden judgement of Balcoin, but she was taking none of it back. Balcoin was bound to be bad news sooner or later. Faye could feel it, things were not going to end well. But for now she had to sit around waiting for her boyfriend to spare her five minutes.

Her thoughts seemed to trigger some sort of reaction as seconds later Adam sat down at the bar opposite her,

"Break?" she asked casually trying to act like it wasn't bothering her that Adam wasn't spending any time with her like he said that he would,

"No," he said and then smiled slightly "rest of the night off so I was thinking we could do something" he told Faye as she ate more cheesy fries "And that you could lay off the cheesy fries for a night"

"What, am I getting fat?" Faye asked pushing the plate away and looking down at herself.

"Of course you aren't getting fat" Adam told her "You just need to eat something other than cheesy fries" he teased causing Faye to roll her eyes.

"It's the only thing you can cook well" Faye told him, her voice serious but a twinkle in her eye.

"Oh, really? Because I was going to cook you dinner but I don't know if I'll bother now" he said and Faye's head whipped round to look at him,

"Are you serious?" She asked and Adam shrugged,

"I was" he teased "But now i'm not so sure."

Faye pouted slightly before she started batting her eyelashes at Adam, who rolled his eyes,

"Fine, you win" he said with a small smile "But you have to help."

"What is the point in you cooking me dinner if I have to help?" Faye asked as Adam stood up,

"The point is that it'll be done faster and then you can't moan" he said heading for the back,

"I do not moan!" Faye told him standing up before pausing.

When Adam noticed Faye wasn't following him he popped his head back around the corner to look at her,

"You coming?" he asked,

"Maybe we should go out and get something to eat." She suggested,

"Faye you just made a fuss about me not cooking you dinner and now you want to go out?"

"Yeah, am I not allowed to change my mind?" She asked crossing her arms over her chest. Adam frowned slightly.

"What's wrong Faye?" He asked moving back around the corner to stand in front of her,

"Nothing." Faye lied easily but rolled her eyes as Adam raised his eyebrows at her "Fine, I just thought that we would be eating out here."

At this Adam frowned, "Why? The whole point in me cooking you dinner was so that we could have some alone time."

"Well, alone time won't last long." Faye muttered just loud enough from Adam to hear,

"What are you on about?" Adam asked causing Faye to let another sigh escape her lips,

"Anytime we try to get some 'alone time' Balcoin shows up because we told him that was the only time he could show up." Faye explained quietly so they wouldn't be overheard.

"So now you're scared of Balcoin?"

"No, i'm wary and you should be too."

"Faye..."

"What? We agreed that we would be more careful about the Balcoin situation. You told me you trusted me when I said I was getting a bad feeling."

"I do trust you Faye, but maybe you are getting a little paranoid."

"Look, can we please just go out and do something fun?" Faye asked.

"Normal fun, Magic fun or Faye fun?"

"All three?" Faye asked biting her lip as she waited for Adam to answer,

"Lets go" Adam agreed causing Faye to smile as they headed out of the Boathouse.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

"Try again." Ryder commanded Lucas, who looked like he was one second away from having his brains explode by the way he was concentrating. The two had been trying for hours to light a candle. Something so simple but it just wasn't happening.

"Im trying!" Lucas said through gritted teeth.

"Try harder!" Ryder said clapping a hand on Lucas's shoulder and joining in on the concentration. Finally Lucas's concentration fell.

"I don't even feel the magic in me anymore. Its like our batteries died."

"Don't talk like that."

"You feel it too Ryder don't lie."

"Maybe we can bring it back."

Claire and Dylan shook their heads from the other side of the room.

"I have a theory, and i need you to test it out with me." Dylan whispered looking seriously at his sister

"What is it?"

"Those two are nothing but dark magic, its all they know, I haven't felt the dark since we woke up. But i still feel magic. What if we still have our powers?" He asked trying to maintain the whisper as he got excited at the thought. Claire thought about it for a minute

"Its worth testing."

"I hoped you'd say that. " a smirk spreading on his lips

"How should we test it though?"

"Same way they are?"

"Lets try it outside, if they saw us do it they'd flip." Claire said sounding very much scared.

"They don't have magic. They cant hurt us."

"They still have their fists. Grab that candle and lets go outside." Claire said pointing to the table next to them. Slowly without attracting their brothers attention the two slipped out the hotel door. Rounding the corner they sat themselves on the floor.

"You first claire." Dylan said with a reassuring smile. Claire stared at the candle, concentration growing in her face, slowly the strain began to showI want to help out as much as possible incase there are kids who are in the position i was in on her face, when finally a flame sputtered up, flickering as if being blown by the wind, and then died out.

Claire sighed disappointment clear on her face.

"Hey sis, its okay. More of a result than Lucas and Ryder have had right?" Claire smiled slightly.

"Your turn." Dylan turned his attention to the candle, but got the same results as Claire.

"Lets try together?" He asked claire nodding

This time the concentration took less time, didnt hurt as much, and the flame stayed lit.

The two smiled wide at each other.

"Do we tell them?"

"I dunno if thats a good idea, but well see." Dylan replied

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Diana got out of her car and saw Melissa standing not far off. "Hey," Diana said walking up to her friend with a smile.

"Hey," Melissa said looking around. "Where's Cassie? I thought you two were attached at the hip."

"Okay, that joke is getting old," Diana said rolling her eyes. "Don't really know. She wasn't at home this morning when I woke up, which is unusual. I'm usually pulling her out of bed. She's not answering on the link. I have no idea where she could be. Hope she's not late."

Melissa found that odd considering Cassie and Diana were always together lately. Right then the two noticed a very familiar car pull into the parking lot. The passenger door opened and Cassie came out. She turned around right away though as an arm took hold of her arm. Diana and Melissa got closer to hear.

"You forgot my goodbye kiss, "they heard Jake say.

"No I didn't. I gave you one before I exited the car," Cassie said back with a smile.

"Call me greedy. I want another one," Jake said and Cassie laughed. She leaned over and gave Jake a kiss. The two didn't part for a while and when they finally did both were smiling. "Have a fun day at school. See you later."

"Thanks," Cassie said as she closed the door and turned around to find Diana and Melissa staring. Cassie walked over to them as Jake drove away. "Were you two spying?"

Diana and Melissa looked at each other and nodded. "Cassie and Jake sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby Jake in the baby carriage."

Cassie held back a laugh. "Seriously guys? What are we five?" Cassie asked but she had a smile on her face.

"If I remember correctly you did that to me when I was just flirting with a boy," Melissa pointed out.

"Oh yeah, what happened to that boy?" Cassie asked. "If things are good between you two maybe we could change this double date to a triple date when Grant comes back."

"No, that never got passed flirting. Although there are a lot of other cute boys around here so you never know," Melissa said as the three started to head towards class. "So fill us in. What happened this morning?" Cassie didn't say anything. "Cassie, come on."

"Yes, do share," Diana said curious. "Like how I didn't even know you were gone this morning until I walked into your bedroom to find you gone. You know I was a little worried. You're gone, no note, and not answering on the link."

"You were asleep when Jake came over and woke me up. I didn't think it was a big deal that I left my house in the morning." Cassie said. "Look Jake just woke me up to take me out to breakfast before school. No big and I'm sorry I didn't respond on the link."

"So how did he wake you up so early without you making a fuss? I think I could use some hints." Cassie didn't respond but Diana saw through the link Cassie waking up by Jake kissing her. "Damn, it would be weird if I do that."

Melissa looked at Diana confused and then realized what happened. "Guys, seriously, talking through the link and leaving us out when we're standing right next to you is kind of rude."

"Sorry," the two said together and Cassie added "we've just gotten too use to it. Sometimes I don't even realize if I'm talking through the link or out loud."

Melissa nodded sort of understand as the three walked by Faye and Adam. The two were right outside the doors for the school and were basically attached by the mouth. The three looked at it. "I thought they'd been fighting for the last week or something," Cassie said.

"I thought so too," Diana said and the two looked at Melissa.

Melissa looked at them. "Why are you two looking at me?"

"You're her best friend," Cassie pointed out.

"I don't know. I thought they were fighting. I guess they made up. Faye and I don't really talk that much anymore," Melissa said wondering why. It used to be whenever the other was into a boy they went to their best friend. Faye had just separated herself from Melissa though and for no apparent reason. Melissa knew something was up with her but she didn't know what.

"I guess they did," Cassie said not really caring. She couldn't care less for Adam or Faye and whatever they were fighting over. She walked past them into the school followed by Diana and Melissa.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Cassie and Diana looked at each other's before entering Sanders class. They were both wondering how their classes were going to be now that their not-so-subtle teacher and they were on the same page. They took their seats and waited for Mr. Sanders. He arrived soon enough and looked at them briefly before addressing the whole class.

"Good morning students," He said. "I am sure you remember that you are supposed to turn in your assignments today and I can't wait to read them. Ms. Matthews, could you please go pick up the papers from each group?"

Sally nodded and stood up. Cassie sighed as she saw her go from table to table.

"_I am glad we had a relatively calm week to work on that project,"_ She told Diana through their link. _"I don't think we could have done it well enough with more magical issues day to day."_

"_Yeah, but it was kind of weird to work on it after hearing what Mr. Sanders had to say,"_ Diana replied. _"Writing an essay about the Salem Witch Trials in a class for a witch teacher? I felt like I'm at Hogwarts."_

Cassie suppressed a laugh. _"Nah that would mean Sanders would be teaching History of Magic and his classes aren't as boring as the ones of professor Binns. If anything, they are more terrifying than the ghost himself."_

Diana chuckled in a low tone. _"Too true."_

Sally then came by their group and picked up their papers. Sanders took a look at the front pages of each group and nodded before putting them on his desk.

"Well, it will take me a while to go through everything but that's all right because I already had a theme prepared for the class," Sanders said. "As I continue to say, Folkloric tales have moral lessons. Some of those lessons are obvious, others are subject to debate, and others are simply ambiguous. This time, I am going to talk about one particular legend and we are going to discuss the lesson and morality behind it."

Then Sanders opened his bag and took out a folded piece of paper. Once he had unfolded it, he showed it to the class and the Circle stared curiously. It was a drawing with some Native American artistic designs, but no one could place the culture that drew it. It was of a humanoid creature with color-like strips of a jaguar across its body but the weird part was that, while the creature looked feline in design instead of fur over skin it seemed to have scales of a snake or maybe an alligator. It also had a tail with scales as well.

"Can anyone tell me what this is?" Mr. Sanders asked.

No one spoke or made any movement. Sanders, however, wasn't finished.

"Even if you don't know the name, you might be able to identify the region," Mr. Sanders pressed on. "Any wild guesses based on the design?"

After some hesitation the same red headed girl who asked about Voodoo on the first class raised her hand. Mr. Sanders just nodded towards her.

"Mesoamerican design?" She asked tentatively.

"Explain your reasoning," Mr. Sanders urged.

"Well, many cultures like the Olmec and the Maya view the jaguar like a deity in their religions, not to mention important animals for Shamanism," She said.

Melissa immediately focused harder on the class and start wondering if that drawing was also a magical artifact of Mr. Sanders. He smiled. "Well thought guesses but I am afraid that is not the case for this design. I am sorry but I didn't quite catch your name the last time you talked in my class," He said. "Miss…?"

"Smith," She said. "Susan Smith."

Mr. Sanders nodded and then looked at the Circle. "Any of you got an idea?" He asked.

The friends looked at each other for a moment. They still aren't comfortable with the classes even if Sanders had come clean to them, so they all simply shook their heads. Mr. Sanders frowned deeply before focusing on someone else who raised her hand.

"Yes Miss Matthews?" He asked.

"I think it is South American," She stated. "They also have jaguars there in the Amazon, and plenty of reptiles for the scale design."

Mr. Sanders nodded with a smile. "Indeed. This particular creature appears on several legends within different South American cultures, often with variations in the tale but the name and main idea remains the same. It is a creature called a Kanima."

The Circle glanced at each other and then looked at Sanders again and waited for him to explain.

"If you want an analogy think of it like a werewolf just that it has two animal halves instead of one: A jaguar and a snake," Mr. Sanders said. "The other part is that of a man. According to folklore, a Kanima was a weapon of vengeance. It always had a master and it did its master's bidding to exact revenge on people who in the masters own twisted view deserved the punishing. Most of the legends about its Pre Colombian use were lost during the colonization of South America but the most popular since has been that of a priest who became the master of a Kanima and used it to rid his village of murders. In other words, an eye for an eye," Sanders explained. "Now, what is your opinion on the matter?"

Everyone was quiet for a few moments. Then Susan raised her hand.

"Yes?"

"I think the priest didn't have any right to do that," She claimed. "As bad as people may be, we have law enforcement and prisons for that."

Mr. Sanders nodded. "Many people may think that because of violations against human rights, not to mention it is against the law to be a vigilante. But what if we would be talking about a village with a corrupt government that works far too slowly while the killings go on, or that simply doesn't care? If you were in the priest's place and had the means to stop more killings after eliminating what many might consider scumbags, wouldn't you feel like you were obliged to do something?" He pressed on.

Susan opened her mouth but frowned. "Well…maybe," She admitted. "I don't really know."

Mr. Sanders smirked. "That is a good answer and that is because this is a concept with many different views. As important as the human rights may be, that doesn't change the fact that on most instances in history when they were violated for the sake of the greater good, things got better much faster for a city or country than would have happened had the criminals being kept alive," He stated. "The real truth on that matter is that no one really knows. We have laws and codes of morals but unfortunately, those important aspects of our society tend to be far too slow to be efficient if you compare them to the alternate method. It's an ambiguous matter really. Now what do you think, Miss Meade?" He asked.

Diana looked around and shrugged looking down at her paper refusing to give an answer. She was not going to answer in this class. She still didn't trust Sanders and wouldn't answer. Sanders waited for a few minutes before deciding to move on and looked at Cassie.

Mr. Sanders nodded. "What about you Miss Blake?"

Cassie bit her bottom lip. That was a loaded question considering she had killed before, but she was with Diana and just shrugged. Sanders moved on to every member of the Circle but they all refused to answer. They heard the class mumble at the Circles refusal to answer the question. Something along the lines of 'what's the matter with them?' and 'why do they hate Mr. Sanders?', but the Circle refused to do anything about it.

Mr. Sander stared for a while and nodded. He knew he wasn't going to get anywhere "Well, that's it for today. I will give you your grades as soon as possible."

Everyone started to leave but Mr. Sanders stopped the Circle. He looked at them and sighed.

"I am sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable in previous classes," He said. "If you must know, I was trying to teach you how to keep a calm attitude when someone talks about magic. "Plus, "He added chuckling. "I am kind of a drama queen."

That broke the tense mood as everyone smiled. "We have noticed," Adam said.

They stood there and looked at him for a minute before they all walked out of the classroom without saying goodbye. Mr. Sanders sighed. He had really messed up his relationship with the Circle here and he realized it would take them a long time to trust him.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

"I always think it's so weird, being here when almost everyone else is gone." Cassie commented as she, Melissa, and Diana all made their way to the school's cafeteria. The show was being set up there, since there wasn't any room in the auditorium to have a runway.

"We're not the only people here." Diana pointed out as they passed a few of the track members, all running as fast as their legs allowed, obviously later for practice. "All the sport teams are here."

"True."

Once they reached the cafeteria they saw that a crudely constructed runway had been set up already, and several parents were busy draping the sides with black velvet and painting the wooden top so it was a shiny black.

Melissa grinned. "Thank God for artistic parents" she joked, trying to imagine her dad helping.

"What're we supposed to do?" Cassie asked Diana.

"Well…" Diana glanced down at the notebook in her arms, a long list spiralling down its pages. "You can hang lights—those over there, the Christmas ones—around the walls, or help with the runway—"

"Not if you want it to stay standing." Cassie interrupted.

"Okay, leave that part alone. You can also go backstage and make sure the dressing tables are set up and the racks of dresses are organized and have the names of who is wearing them on the tags."

Both Cassie and Melissa nodded. "Sounds good." Cassie said, turning abruptly. She nearly crashed into a very flustered-looking girl, arms full of streamers. "Oh, sorry!"

"It's fine." She said. "Diana, three of the models just got the stomach flu."

"What?!"

"It must have been something they ate, they all said they went out to dinner the night before with some friends."

Diana groaned. "Okay… do you know anyone who could replace them, Molly?"

"Actually…" Cassie felt distinctly uncomfortable with the glint in Molly's eyes. "You three would be perfect."

"WHAT?!" was the collective response.

Molly shushed them. "No, really. You all are tiny enough to fit into the dresses, and you're here anyway. You might as well be part of the show."

"What do you think?" Diana asked Melissa and Cassie. "We could..."

"Why not?" Melissa agreed. "It could be fun."

She and Diana turned to Cassie with huge, puppy-dog eyes. "C'mon, please?"

"Fine." She relented. "But if this ends badly I'm going to kill you both."

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Just as Faye and Adam where about to leave the Boathouse the front door opened and Balcoin entered. They stopped on their tracks and looked around.

"I thought you wouldn't meet us in crowded places," Faye pointed out.

Balcoin smirked and snapped his fingers. Faye felt a shiver down her spine for a split second.

"What was that?" She blinked.

"Just a spell design to make people unaware of our presence," He replied. "And before you ask, I hadn't used it in the presence of your Circle or parents because it wouldn't work on them since they are witches. "

Faye frowned. "Okay, what do you want?"

Balcoin's smirk broadened and for some reason, something in Faye's mind was yelling at her to run. Suddenly, all those feelings were squashed the next moment because she felt newfound power boiling through her veins. The feeling was exhilarating and as she heard a gasp she knew Adam felt it too.

"Why, just give you some additional power, of course," Balcoin said chuckling. "I suggest you hit the road and cause some chaotic fun."

Faye grinned. "Sure, but what are you going to do?"

Balcoin shrugged. "Just check something out in the outskirts of Chance Harbor."

Faye and Adam vaguely wondered what but they didn't get the chance to ask him because he disappeared into thin air.

"Wow, he's got to teach us that," Faye said impressed. "It would make skipping classes so much easier."

Adam just nodded. "Hey, why don't we go to the fashion show?"

"Because we are trying to have some fun," She replied with a blank stare.

"Yeah, but we could cause the chaos there?" Adam said smirking.

Faye grinned. "Now you're making some sense."

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

*BEEP BEEP*

"Oi Claire, you've got a text," Dylan shouted, hoping Claire would hear him in the other room. She soon walked through, and picked her phone up of the table.

"It's from Melissa," She told Dylan, smiling.

"What's it about?" Dylan asked, looking up from what he was reading. Hopefully Melissa was inviting them out; he was quite bored.

"Oooh, they're having a fashion show at school, Melissa wants us to come. That sounds like loads of fun! You'll come with me won't you, please?" Claire asked, giving Dylan her best puppy dog eyes.

"I don't know, it sounds a bit girly," Dylan said, not sure he'd enjoy it.

"Don't be stupid, it will be loads of fun! Melissa, Diana and Cassie are modelling; we have to go for them. Cassie and Diana are our sisters; we should go to support them. I bet they have put loads of effort into tonight, so has Melissa. It will be loads of fun, honestly; there will be food, drinks, music and plus there will be loads of fit girls for you to check out," Claire argued, pulling a face at the last reason why Dylan should come.

"What about Lucas and Ryder?" Dylan asked, they would never have been able to go before, but now things were different.

"Like they can stop us," Claire replied, smirking. "It will be loads of fun, believe me."

"Well in that case, let's go!" Dylan told her smiling.

"Yes!" Claire practically screamed, getting very excited. "Let me just text Melissa back then" She added smiling.

"This is going to be so much fun," Claire said, getting even more excited. Soon she started to walk back into her room.

"Hey, where are you going? Thought we were going out," Dylan shouted after her.

"We are, but I need to get ready first," Claire replied. Dylan shook his head and sat back down, knowing Claire he'd be waiting ages.

"Oh god, what have I let myself in for?" He whispered to himself, rolling his eyes.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

"Diana, what are you doing?" Melissa asked, grabbing her hand and pulling her along behind her. "We need to get ready," She told Diana.

Diana let herself be pulled along by a very excited Melissa, who didn't seem nervous at all - unlike Diana. Soon she found herself being pushed into a chair.

"Can I do your hair?" Melissa asked, starting to play with Diana's hair.

"Yeah of course," Diana told her, smiling.

"Are you nervous?" Melissa asked as she set too work.

"A little," Diana replied, shooting Melissa a worried look in the mirror.

"Oh, don't be. This is going to be so much fun. You're going to look so hot by the time I'm finished." Melissa told her.

"Alright then," Diana replied starting to get confident, "Where's Cassie?" She asked, having not seen her sister in a while.

"I don't know, maybe we should find her, she could do your make-up." Melissa suggested.

"It's okay, I'll do it myself," Diana told her, starting to put on her foundation.

Just then Cassie popped out of nowhere, three outfits on hangers in her arms.

"Hey, I got our outfits, they're amazing!" She told them smiling.

"Oh my god, I can't wait, this is going to be so much fun!" Melissa said, hugging Cassie.

"Diana, your hair looks amazing," Cassie told her smiling. Melissa had just finished curling it and was now plaiting two front sections around Diana's head, joining at the back. Diana stopped doing her eyeliner and looked up at Cassie.

"Thanks, now come and sit down so I can do your make-up," She told her. Cassie laid their clothes down and brought a chair to sit next to Diana, facing her. Diana quickly finished her own make-up and then set to work on Cassie's. Starting off by doing a nice Smokey eye, finishing it off by doing bat wings with liquid eyeliner on each eye. She quickly covered Cassie's face in some light foundation and put a lovely pink lip gloss on her lips.

"There, you look beautiful." Diana told her, leaning back to admire her work. Cassie turned in her chair to face the mirror, her mouth falling open when she saw her reflection.

"Oh my god Diana, wow you are good at make-up. Thank you." She whispers, smiling at Diana.

"Come on let's get ready!" Melissa encourages, grabbing Cassie and Diana and pulling them to where their outfits are laid out, they each grabbed a dress then went to the changing rooms to get dressed. Cassie was ready first; she stood waiting for Melissa and Diana, hoping they would like what she was wearing. Melissa came out next, in a short, red, off the shoulder dress, with matching red heels.

"You like?" She asked, giving Cassie a quick spin.

"Oh my god, you look amazing." Cassie told her. "What about me?" She asked, unsure of her outfit. Cassie was wearing a black dress, it had a tight fitting top half with sliver sparkles on and then it went out from her waist and ended quite high. No matter how much she tugged it down, it was still very short. Melissa stopped to take in what Cassie was wearing, before giving her a big smile.

"Oh Jake is going to be very happy," Melissa said, smirking. Soon she and Cassie burst out laughing, finding hard to control themselves, they hardly noticed Diana coming out of the changing rooms, until she was stood in front of them. Diana was wearing a floor length, navy blue dress, which hugged her figure at the top, making her waist look tiny. The skirt was made of chiffon, and fell loosely to the floor.

"Diana you look breathtaking." Cassie told her going up and hugging her, Melissa agreed before joining in the group hug.

"So do you two," Diana told them smiling.

"We defiantly need a picture," Melissa told them all, turning around with her camera in hand. The three of them grouped together, big smiles on their faces.

"Alright on 3 you've got to say cheese, like when you're a little kid." Diana told them, Cassie and Melissa both agreed.

"1, 2, 3" Melissa counted before snapping a beautiful picture of the three of them; defiantly a picture to keep.

"Alright then, you ready?" Cassie asked, before the three of them walked off, hand in hand towards where they had to line up ready for the runway.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Faye smirked as the doors in front of her easily swung open, so much for the school being secure. She could not believe the rush of power she had immediately gotten from Balcoin just under an hour before. It had taken a while for the power to cause any effect on Adam and while he was practicing, Faye was doing full out magic by herself. Faye had not had this much power since the fire and ice dance, it was kind of ironic how she always seemed to have the most power and the most fun with said power at school.

Before Balcoin's visit she had been pretty reluctant to head to the school to watch the fashion show, it was another one of her mom's lame attempts to raise money for the school and get teenagers to spend more time there than they needed to.

Obviously now that Cassie was her mother's favourite, she along with Diana and Melissa had signed up for the fashion show. And no one had been surprised when Faye had turned her nose up at the idea as she always did. She would never be the perfect principal's daughter like everyone wanted her to be. Now that they were in the school, Faye wanted to have some fun. Not only fun with their magic but fun in general and fun meant alcohol. There was bound to be some around backstage somewhere for all of the adults, what teacher didn't drink to get them through the awful school events her mom planned.

"I'm bored" Faye told Adam, a small pout on her lips as Adam rolled his eyes,

"You're always bored, Faye."

"Then entertain me." Faye teased before Adam came closer and kissed her.

When Adam pulled away Faye again pouted,

"We should probably go take our seats." Adam told her,

"Or we could stay back here and have some fun. Who cares about a stupid high school fashion show anyway?" She asked,

"The rest of the Circle. If we show up they can't say anything or be suspicious" Adam told her,

"Fine but first we find alcohol, I need something to get me through an hour of girls I don't really like prancing around in frilly dresses." Faye told him heading towards one of the tables dotted around backstage.

After the both had them had been searching for a good ten minutes, Faye groaned.

"I am going to die." Faye said sitting down on one of the chairs,

"You don't have to be so dramatic." Adam told her before Faye gave him a look "Seriously though Faye we can have some fun without getting drunk. We will probably get more of an adrenaline rush from the magic and it'll last longer."

"Hmmmmm" Faye mumbled before a bottle of alcohol appeared in front of her, "Gotta love magic." She said before standing up and linking arms with Adam.

"Come on, we have a show to watch"

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

"Yawn. So boring." Faye said looking over to adam

"Well why dont we have a little fun?" Faye rolled her eyes

"What kind of fun could we have here?"

"Want to play a game?" This piqued Faye's interest

"Game?"

"Ooh, someone got excited." Adam teased

"Aadddammmm!" Faye play wined

"Were going to play dont get caught doing magic."

"Rules?"

"Impress me with your magic, dont get caught."

Faye bit her lip as she thought for a minute.

"I got it." She said closing her eyes for several seconds before

Openig her eyes to reveal bright grass green eyes.

"Oh yawn!" Adam teased

"Fine!" Faye pouted before running her hands slowly over

Her head, adam watched as her hair slowly turned

A rich burgendy color.

"Nice, nice, but now its my turn." Adam said with a smirk, and with a wink

Faye's dress popped open. Faye made a clicking noise in the back of

Her throat before magicking her dress bacl closed

"Oh come onfaye! The veiw was... Nice..." Adam said a glance going

Towards her chest, and then winking again, this time

Fayes dress popped open but in less than a blink of an eye

It was back to normal.

"Spelled it to not be openable with magic. Looks like youll have to use your hands later."

"But you know how I like to do that thing." Adam said sending Faye a

Mischevious grin.

"And I love when you do that, but you lost the privilage." Fayes voice coming out in a taunt.

"Okay, Okay, well i guess we will just stay here and watch the fashion show." Adam said putting his head in Faye's neck and trailing light kisses on her neck.

"We cant! Later." Faye said lightly pushing his head away smiling and putting her head on his shoulder. "Look, I have a better idea."

She closed her eyes, and this time the hair and dress color of the model in front of them changed color, to the bewilderment of the crowd.

Adam started loosening hems and buttons at once, despite Faye's protests. "This is fun."

"Hell yeah." She agreed, making the lights flicker wildly, the dark magic taking her over and spiraling wildly until bulbs exploded.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Cassie and Diana ran backstage as another light over head exploded. "What are they doing?" Cassie asked Diana looking at the crowd from behind the curtains. It was obvious the magic was coming from Faye and Adam.

"I don't know. Where did they get that power from?" Diana asked making Cassie look at her. "Even with solo magic they shouldn't be powerful enough to do all this at the same time."

"We have to stop them," Cassie said looking around. "Where's Melissa?" Cassie knew her and Diana weren't powerful enough to stop Faye and Adam on their own. Diana looked around but Melissa had apparently ran off. Maybe to go into the crowd and confront Faye and Adam and get them to stop.

Diana held out her hand to Cassie. "Me and you pull the magic we have left together. Maybe we can stop them." Cassie knew it was risky for them to do this. If they used up too much of their magic the link between them might break, but they couldn't let Faye and Adam hurt people. Cassie took Diana's hand. "Concentrate on stopping them."

Cassie reach for her magic and felt it. She felt it connect with Diana. Their hands started to glow a bit, but it was weak it wasn't enough. Then suddenly both of them felt something snap in them. They felt power and the glow from their hands became so bright they had to shut their eyes. The power continue to grow. Cassie and Diana could feel their magic getting stronger and stronger. The two tried to stop what was going on but they found they couldn't. The light kept on growing and Cassie and Diana couldn't separate their hands. There was no way to stop it.

Then the whole auditorium was surrounded in white light. As the light shined on Faye and Adam the two could feel their dark magic become weaker. Faye looked at Adam confused and Adam shook his head. The two had no idea what had just happened. After a second the light disappeared.

Cassie took her hand away from Diana. 'What just happened?'The two thought to each other at the same time but neither had any idea. They shouldn't have been able to do that. Even if they could they should be magically exhausted right now. Maybe even back in a coma from their link breaking, but they were fine. In fact they felt good. They felt powerful again, but not in the way their dark magic had felt. The dark magic had made them feel power that was additive and felt wrong. Made things dark, but this magic felt right. It felt like it belonged to them even though the two had no idea where it came form,

Dawn jumped onto the stage. "We're clearly having some problems with our lightning system and some of the dresses. Will everyone please exist the auditorium in an orderly fashion. Please no panicking," Dawn said as people started to leave.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Cassie and Diana met up with Jake and Melissa outside after they changed out of the dresses and back into their normal clothes. "Where did you disappear too?" Diana asked Melissa.

"My dress was falling off me. I kind of had to run into the back to change. Then I was going to go yell at Faye and Adam to get them to stop," Melissa informed them. "What happened out there though? I got back in time to see that light. What was it?"

Cassie and Diana raised their hands making Jake and Melissa look at them. Before the two could explain at all though Faye and Adam walked out of the school. As soon as the two saw them they tried to turn around but Jake ran over to them clearly enraged. "You two. What the hell were you thinking?" Jake said barely able to stop himself from yelling and looked like he was ready to punch the two,

The three girls ran up. Melissa took hold of one arm, Diana took the other one, and Cassie got in front of Jake. "Remember we're in public," Cassie whispered to her boyfriend putting her hand on his chest as though to hold him back.

Jake took a deep breath. "You two are out of control," Jake said to them. "You could have seriously hurt someone in there. Where did you even get that type of power?"

Faye looked down at the ground, but Adam laughed. "Relax, it's not like we actually hurt anyone or meant to hurt anyone. We were just having some fun." Adam rolled his eyes and started to walk away. He turned around. "It's not like we kill people like you witch hunter." Adam walked away as Cassie, Diana, and Melissa used all their strength to stop Jake from chasing Adam down and beating him up.

"Talk about a low blow," Cassie said getting a little pissed at Adam. True Jake had been a witch hunter and had killed people, but he had reformed and had done everything he could to protect them. It was unfair to bring up his past when he has clearly changed.

"Look guys," Faye said making everyone look at her. "It wasn't supposed to get that bad. We were just going to have a little fun."

"It was probably your idea," Jake said.

"Yeah, you've done stuff like this before," Cassie said. "Or have you forgotten the Fire and Ice dance or nearly killing Sally." Faye looked hurt that Cassie threw that out at her, but Cassie didn't care. Faye had proved one thing to Cassie tonight. She hadn't changed at all after everything they've been though. She was still just trouble. "Adam never done anything like this before getting together with you. You've changed him for the worst."

Faye wanted to defend herself. She wanted to say she hadn't changed Adam. That the skull and the demon had, but she couldn't. She was on Balcoin's side. She couldn't tell the Circle anything even though she wanted to. She just had to take this abuse. Looking at them Jake and Cassie were so sure she was at fault and Melissa, her best friend, also seemed to think so. Diana seemed unsure, but Faye knew Diana wouldn't stand up for her right now. Not when she had done so much in her past and had just caused a lot of trouble. "Adam makes his own choices. He choose me. He choose to do that. You got a problem with that Sun Princess?" Faye said but didn't wait for an answer as she walked away. She didn't even realize her mistake.

Cassie looked around confused. "Did she just call me sun princess?" Cassie asked and everyone nodded. "What does that even mean?"

"I don't know," Diana said looking like she was about to laugh.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Jake, Melissa, Cassie, and Diana stood outside. "I forgot my bag inside. Give me a minute and then I'll drive us home," Diana said to Cassie.

"I'll drive Cassie," Jake said before Cassie could say anything.

"Sounds good," Diana said before Cassie could say anything again. 'Have fun,' Diana thought to her sister as she walked into the smiled.

"Well... Um..." Melissa said and noticed Patrick and Emily waiting for her not far away. "I guess I'll be getting home. Night guys." Melissa ran off as Cassie and Jake said their good byes.

Jake and Cassie walked towards Jake's care. Jake opened the passenger door for Cassie. "What a gentlemen," Cassie joked as she got in. Jake got behind the drivers seat and started the car. As he was driving Cassie noticed Jake still seemed angry. "Jake, just calm down. We can't do anything else tonight about them."

"I know. They just make me so mad," Jake said as he turned the car onto their block. "I haven't even asked how you are?"

"I'm fine. In fact I'm perfect. I feel good," Cassie said with a smile. She did feel good.

"What happened? I mean with the light. How did you do that?' Jake parked the car in front of Cassie's house as she said this and turned around waiting for her answer.

"I don't know," Cassie admitted. "I don't know. We just got a surge of magic." Cassie explained. "Almost the same way it was when our dark magic appeared only this time not dark magic. It felt good. It felt light. I mean it feels good. The magic didn't disappear. It's like my light magic just got stronger."

Jake put a hand on Cassie's shoulder. "That's good. I'm very happy your okay. I don't know what I would have done if you had been hurt. I wouldn't have forgiven myself for not doing anything."

"You probably would have killed Faye and Adam with only Melissa there to stop you." Cassie joked and Jake laughed. Jake leaned in and kissed Cassie. Cassie returned the kiss and the two didn't part until they needed air.

Afterwards the two just sat there looking at each other. Neither wanted to be the first one to speak. To ruin the magic of their kiss. "I guess I should get in," Cassie whispered even though she didn't want to leave Jake.

"Me too," Jake whispered, but neither moved for another minute. Cassie opened the passenger door and got out. Jake also left the car. The two waked very slowly to their house as they kept turning to look at each other. "Cassie," Jake said as Cassie was almost at her front door.. "Do you maybe want to spend the night?" Jake asked.

Cassie nodded. "Yeah I would," Cassie said as she ran over to Jake. Jake put his arms around her as the two kissed again as Jake opened the door and closed it behind them.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Diana sighed, haphazardly throwing dresses onto hangers, then putting them up on the various racks backstage. She didn't mind cleaning up—she did it after most school fundraisers—but she wished that someone could have stayed behind with her. Of course, Cassie and Jake had headed home, and so had Adam and Faye. As for Melissa, she was probably with the twins.

She piled a few more dresses on, about to leave the rest for tomorrow when she heard a soft whimper from somewhere backstage. "Hello?" she called cautiously. It could just be a trap, to lure her out.

There was a small cough. "Umm... yeah?"

Diana rounded the corner to find Faye huddled on the ground behind one of the disassembled dressing tables. "Faye, what are you doing?"

"Nothing. Sitting." Faye snapped. Diana saw her hastily wipe her eyes, sniffing.

Diana instantly climbed over the dressing table chair, settling down next to Faye. "What happened? I thought you went home with Adam."

"Didn't feel like it." Faye was doing her very best not to cry anymore, and not to make Diana think anything was wrong. "You come here just to yell at me more?"

"Oh, sweetie." She put an arm around the dark-haired witch.

"Don't you 'sweetie' me, Meade! "She said, cringing away. "I know you're just mad because I ruined this stupid show and I know it means a lot to you that all these stupid fundraisers work and I'm sorry, okay?"

Diana sighed patiently. "Faye, I'm not mad, and I don't care what happened. I just want to know what got you're so upset that you decided to cry back here."

"Not crying."

"You were."

"Fine..." Faye conceded. "Maybe I was..."

"Did Adam say something to you?" Diana knew it couldn't have been because of everyone in the Circle chastising her use of magic. They'd done that so often before; it couldn't possibly bother her now.

"He...yeah." She gulped, unconsciously cuddling closer to Diana. "It's like he doesn't care about me at all."

"What do you mean?" Diana could never remember Adam being cruel to her, or making her feel unloved. Why would he do the same to Faye?

Faye said, "He talks down to me like I'm stupid. I don't know if he always means to, but he has done it before. And lately he's been doing it all the time, and I just wonder if maybe something's wrong with him, because he hates me for no reason." The last few words became more high-pitched, morphing into a sob.

"No, Faye, he doesn't hate you." Diana soothed. "You two are always so close in school, there's no way..."

But what if this was something magical? Diana remembered that Sanders had interfered in her and Cassie's life. What if he thought that Faye and Adam needed to break up? It would only make sense that the best way would be to have Adam start treating Faye like crap. The only mistake with that was that it was so unlike Adam; Diana remembered how very well she was treated when she dated him. Adam was a sweet guy, not a crappy boyfriend.

Faye was crying softly into Diana's coat. "He hates me..." she was mumbling.

"No." Diana said sternly. "And you know what? I think I might have figured out what's causing this. I think maybe its Sanders meddling again and being an absolute jerk."

Faye pulled her head up a little, scrubbing her eyes. "No, that can't be it. He'd have no reason to." _Because Balcoin was doing such a good job already._ "I mean, it would be pointless."

"It can't hurt to investigate."

"No!" the words came out sharper than she'd intended, and Faye winced. "What I meant was... you shouldn't. He'll get suspicious. I can take care of myself, really." The last thing she wanted was for Diana to find out about Balcoin.

"You sure?" Diana asked. "I could go yell at him or something, if you wanted."

Faye snickered. "Yeah, sorry, can't really imagine you yelling at anyone, miss perfect."

"I could to!"

"No way."

Diana playfully punched Faye's arm. "This is my thanks for trying to help?"

"Yup."

"Well," she began, scrambling to her feet and dragging Faye with her, "Then you might as well thank me properly."

"Um, what does that mean?"

"I have at least thirty dresses that need to be put away and then loaded into my car. Feel up to a challenge?"

Faye groaned. "Too cruel, Diana. Too cruel."

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Balcoin stared at the lake where his crystal form was both split and eventually reformed. Part of him wanted to vaporize whole place until the flames and the smoke was sky high but he didn't because for a long time he had known there was something off about the lake. Magic was raw and untamed here, essentially a powerful magical hotspot. That in itself has always been rare but moreover in this millennium. He needed to find out why the lake was so vibrant with magic.

The ageless demon approached the shore, feeling the invisible tidal waves of magic as he closed in. He looked up and noticed the moon was in the right spot for his little spell. He opened his mouth and started chanting in a language that was dead, long before the Egyptians developed their hieroglyphics; the primordial tongue. That was the language that was spoken many tens of thousands of years ago, when mankind was starting to evolve. However, it disappeared abruptly after an event that shook the earth and all who lived there: The Great Flood.

Balcoin grimaced as he remembered that event. No matter how many millennia pass by, he will never forget the magical catastrophe that was provoked when he led a demonic army to the Spirit World itself. As old and powerful as he may be the mighty realm of magic is as ancient as life itself, something even he cannot claim. Had he realized the consequences of ripping asunder the delicate fabric of space that separates this world from the magical realm he wouldn't have invaded the place, no matter how tempting the additional power might have been. His little campaign not only forced the semi-sentient entity of the Spirit World to retaliate against him, but to unleashed such power to push him back that it leaked out into the human world and started the Great Flood. That magical apocalypse may have severely diminish the human population as well as their culture and use of the primordial language but it also wiped out several supernatural species and the ones that did not become extinct where even more decimated that the humans; forcing them to lay low for thousands of years. Not to mention the sheer power of the Spirit World injured him so much, it placed the ancient demon in a coma and it took him about forty centuries to heal.

Balcoin chuckled at the irony of that. When the mankind was young and starting to develop reason, he only saw them as weak beings, useful only for his demonic armies as a mean to expand their own powers and then he indirectly caused the Great Flood which obliterated any chance for the supernatural beings to dominate the world back in the day as they were all vastly outnumbered by the humans. So, in an obscure way, Balcoin was responsible for the rise of human civilization and their eventual domination of the planet as they remain the unchallenged specie of the world.

"_Something I certainly need to set right," _He thought as he stopped chanting.

Soon after, the lake's surface started to glow under the night sky and a small orb of a greenish color formed, almost invisible to the naked eye from a distance. When the meaning of the orb resonated in his head, he could not help but grin.

"_Perfect," _Balcoin thought delighted. _"And here I thought I will have to travel to Stonehenge once more when the time was right."_

He stared at the lake and thought of the possibilities if he gets his plan done right this time.

"_I won't fail again," _He swore._ "The humans have dominated this world for far too long because of my mistakes and it's time they are overthrown."_

He remembered the past and the mighty beings of old as he stared at the necessary hotspot for his plans.

"It's time for the next Golden Age of the supernatural beings to begin," He proclaimed. 

**Anon review replies (for chapter 14 only):**

**Guest: I'm sorry that you think Cassie and Adam should be together, we're not doing that this season. Sorry :( it doesn't work with our plotline.**

**Guest: Well, glad to hear you support our decisions :)**

**Guest: Cassie and Jake are great together, aren't they? ;)**

**Tina: That could be really interesting, we'll keep it in mind, Thanks for the suggestion!**

**Stephanie; Thank you, and we lost an editor a while ago so that might be why. All right, we'll try.**

**Luz: Don't worry, Faye/Adam won't last forever, it's just there because it has to do with a certain plotline.**

**Guest: Thank you!**

**Guest: Not really sure if they're be any Cassie/Adam, but glad to hear you like our fic**

**D: Thank you :) yeah, we try our best. The chapters are massive, so editing everything is really hard. That, and since we all have different writing styles it's hard to edit and change stuff without annoying whoever wrote it. **

**Guest: Oh, thank you! I wish they could make this into the season 2 :)**


	16. Tension

**ATTENTION (SERIOUSLY, read it please): Since school has started for all the writers, we'll be updating every other week instead of every week. Sorry about that :(**

**Also, if you check out my profile you can find a link for a TSC roleplay that we run, and an absolutely BRILLIANT trailer that Marril96 made for us!**

**And thank you so much to neondiamond101 on youtube for the wonderful video, we appreciated it so much! It means a lot to us that you read this fanfiction and really enjoy it. (Also, flower getting' lady says: THANK YOU SO MUCH! I can't believe you liked that fic, it was written in like half an hour and I was so sure no one had read it. I do a lot of original stuff too, and glad to hear you're a writer as well. But yeah, I was beside myself when I listened to your video, I started crying, I was so happy.)**

**Plotline writers – Forcystus5, flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B**

**Writers –, Forcystus5, CharmedMilliE, ilove2dance, witch-witha-B, TtylerMaria**

**Editors – flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B, Your Sister. Duh**

**Graphic Designers – xleamalfoyx, Charlene F.**

**Twitter Account – ImaGleekBaby, flower gettin' lady**

**Tumblr Account – witch-witha-B**

**The twitter account is TSC_Project and the tumblr account is The Secret Circle Project. We also have a facebook page, you can find it by searching The Secret Circle Project.**

**ANON REVIEW REPLIES at the end.**

**Disclaimer: We don't own The Secret Circle**

Episode 16 – "Tension"

Diana walked into the coffee shop where Melissa was waiting at a table. "I called this Circle meeting and you get here before me," Diana said with a smile sitting down.

"Guess, I'm just faster than you," Melissa said. "Where's Cassie?"

"Take a guess," Diana said.

"With Jake?" Melissa asked and Diana nodded.

"I swear it's almost like I'm living at the Blake house by myself lately. Cassie comes home in the morning to grab a change of clothes and go to school with me." Diana told Melissa and at that moment Cassie and Jake walked in. _'Speak of the devil. We were just talking about you,'_ Diana thought to her sister through the link.

'_Oh really, hope it was good things,'_ Cassie thought back as she walked towards the table.

'_Just that since the fashion show last week you have been spending all your time at Jake's house. What are you two doing every night? Oh wait I think I know,'_ Diana thought as Cassie and Jake took seats at their table.

'_What makes you think we're doing anything?" _Cassie asked. _"For all you know we've been spending our nights watching TV and then falling asleep." _

"_You're in a relationship, neither of you are virgins, and you just happen to block me out of the link every night." _Diana thought back to Cassie. _"Come on you can tell me." _

"_That doesn't prove anything and I'm not telling you anything,"_ Cassie said and the two could have probably continued talking like this if Melissa and Jake hadn't butted in.

"Guys, you're seriously leaving us out here," Melissa said.

"They do it all the time," Jake said with a smile putting his arm around Cassie. "It's cute if not really annoying sometimes." Cassie smiled at Jake and kissed him on the cheek. "So where are they?" Jake refused to say their names. Since the fashion show he had done all he could to avoid them which wasn't that hard.

Diana shrugged. "I don't know. I told them to be here." The four shared a look. They now knew Faye and Adam were up to something after the fashion show. The two shouldn't have had that type of power and the way they used it. "Just act normal when they get here. No yelling at them or integrating them. Just a normal Circle meeting."

"Okay," Cassie said as a waiter came over and Cassie ordered a latte and Jake got coffee. As soon as the waiter returned with their drinks Faye and Adam walked in. They looked like this was the last place they wanted to be as they came over to the table.

Faye glared at them as she took her seat. "Okay, let's get this over with. What do the princesses want?" Faye asked.

"I called this meeting because of Sanders." Diana said and she saw the looks on the rest of the Circle's faces. "Okay, I know we've talked about him a lot but not so much since we found out about him. I just don't think we can trust him or his so called information about the future." Diana looked at Cassie as she said this remembering what Sanders told them. No, Diana didn't trust Sanders at all.

"Yeah I don't trust him either but what the hell can we do about it?" Cassie asked. "It's not like we can throw him off a cliff or something." The joke literally lightened the tension in the group as Diana, Melissa, and Jake all started laughing. Coffee literally came out of Jake's nose. Even, Faye smiled slightly at the joke. The only one who remained emotionless was Adam.

"Not too many cliffs in Chance Harbor Sun princess and even if there were I don't think even magic could cover that one up," Faye said as a joke, but Cassie, Jake, Diana, and Melissa looked at her weirdly as she mentioned sun princess again and if looks could kill Faye would be dead by the look Adam gave her. "What?"

"Okay, I have to ask what's with the Sun Princess thing? This is the second time you called me it." Cassie asked and Faye finally realized her mistake.

"Well at the fashion show yours and Diana's light show was really bright like the sun and you two aren't dark princesses anymore since you lost your dark power so I changed it to sun," Faye said and it seems like the others bought the excuse.

"Anyway," Diana said cutting in. "Back to Sanders. I'm thinking we all have to keep an extra eye on him. No more breaking into his home or office just be even more careful then we already were around the creeper." Everyone nodded. "But Sanders was right about one thing. There's something else going on around here."

"Like what?" Faye asked.

"Like our dark magic suddenly disappearing. What caused that? Where did it go? Also what about the light magic power boost Cassie and I got at the fashion show. Where did that come from? There's something going on and I think we should all be extra careful." Cassie, Melissa, and Jake nodded as they agreed.

"Fine, but I think you're making too big of a deal out of nothing," Faye said. "If that's all Adam and I have big plans for the day."

Faye started to get up but Melissa stopped them. "I actually have something to tell you guys." Faye sat back down as she waited. "I've been waiting for the right time to tell you this, but do you remember the Nidaros coven?" Jake, Cassie, and Adam all shared a look with each other.

"The ghost that tried to kill me," Adam finally spoke up for the first time. "Yeah."

"Well it turns out my dad is a member of the Nidaros family, which makes me a Glaser and Nidaros witch." Cassie and Diana looked at each other. It was their father who had killed the Nidaros family. "The Nidaros family is just as old as the Meade and Blake family which means I'm just as power as the Meade family. I think my dad said the Blake line is still more powerful than us. Our three lines go all the way back to the beginning of magic itself apparently or something like that."

"That's great Melissa," Cassie said. "About Black-" Cassie didn't get a chance to finish.

"Neither I or my dad hold it against you guys or your siblings that John Blackwell killed our family. You guys are not him. He is dead." Diana and Cassie smiled.

Faye had a look of jealousy on her face at the news. "Well that's just great for you. Another super witch in the group," Faye said.

"Faye…" Melissa started but was cut off.

"You know what I don't care. Let's go," Faye told Adam and the two walked out.

Melissa looked at the table. She had been hoping Faye would be happy for her being her best friend and all. Diana put an arm around Melissa. "Don't listen to her. She's just… well Faye. She'll come around." Melissa looked at Diana and smiled. "Cassie and I made plans to go to the mall today. You want to join?"

"No, I better go home. Thanks," Melissa said as she got up and left.

"Well Jake, you joining us?" Diana asked.

"The mall with my girlfriend and her sister. As much fun as that sounds I think I'll pass." Jake said as he stood up. "Have fun. I'll meet you at the Boathouse later." Jake kissed Cassie before he walked out.

"I guess it's just you and me," Cassie said and Diana nodded happy to be spending some alone time with her sister again.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

As soon as the Circle meeting was over Faye and Adam made their excuses and got out of the coffee shop in record time. They watched the other members file out, and ducked behind the building. There stood Balcoin, his eyes glittering. The hair on the back of Faye's neck prickled, and she felt at least ten degrees colder.

"What do you want this time?" Faye asked. Despite being allowed to fool around with magic at the fashion show, Faye still felt wary of Balcoin. He always looked at her oddly—tilting his head to one side just the slightest bit, as though contemplating the best way to kill her. He never looked at Adam like that.

Balcoin chuckled. "So ungrateful. Didn't you two have fun?"

"Of course." Adam assured him, forever the loyal slave. Faye wrinkled her nose. "Well, I did."

"Yeah, because you ditched me and let the entire Circle blame me for what happened." Faye pointed out rather irritably.

"Now, now," Balcoin chided them, "Never mind that. I have something else for you to do."

"What?"

He said, "Do you know someone named Nicolas Sanders?"

"Yeah." Adam said. "He's been very interested in us ever since he moved here, and apparently he wants to help us."

Balcoin nodded. "So I heard. You also must know he possessed a large collection of artefacts."

"All the magical juju stuff?" Faye asked him, getting a slight inclination of the head as a yes.

"I don't like him." Balcoin said, dark intentions underlying a not-so-sinister sounding statement. "He has a lot more power than a man of his capacity should, and he's too interested in your Circle. I want you to go to his house and destroy as many as you can. Hopefully it will reduce his level of power."

Faye and Adam nodded. As they began to head off, she asked, "Why can't you do it?"

Balcoin turned in his tracks, observing Faye in that creepy manner again. "Someone of my power level would leave an easily traceable magic signature. He could find it even without any of his artefacts. You two, on the other hand, are small and weak. He won't be able to trace you."

With that he left them. Faye shook of the feeling of suspicion and followed Adam to the truck.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Melissa closed the front door of her house and blinked as she entered the living room. "You came home early," She said a little surprised.

Her stepmom smiled. "I wanted to talk to you," Emily Glaser said.

"We both do," Her husband said as he entered the living room from the kitchen.

"Okay," Melissa said slowly. "About what?"

Patrick crossed his arms. "Well, first I would like to know why you didn't tell us that you were magically paralyzed by your Folklore teacher."

Melissa grimaced. "I didn't want you to worry," She whispered. "And technically, that was self -defense. The others could have really hurt him otherwise."

Patrick sighed. "Melissa, I know you and the Circle have handled things pretty well on your own but that doesn't mean you can't ask for our help when you need it. And I think knowing that a witch infiltrated your school and not telling us qualifies."

Melissa nodded slowly. "How did you find out anyway?"

"Dawn," He replied. "Cassie told her about it and apparently she had a huge chat with him the next day to figure out why he didn't tell her everything. The answers were almost the same as what he told you, though, but I guess mainly it is because witches are not as social as mortals," Patrick said with a sigh. "We are very secretive even with our own kind."

"I owe him," Melissa muttered. "He saved me from Lucas and Ryder when they were mad at me for getting close to Claire and Dylan."

Patrick raised an eyebrow. "Did he now? Anything else I should know?"

"Only that he is probably the most resourceful and knowledgeable witch I have ever meet," She said. "He told me he is a half witch and that makes him weaker than us by nature but he became far stronger by increasing his knowledge about witchcraft in several areas like Shamanism and by acquiring many magical artifacts from ancient cultures."

Patrick looked impressed. "It takes some serious hard work to get that far in magic," He said. "Maybe we could actually use his help to find out what happened to the dark magic of the Balcoins."

Melissa just shrugged. "What else did you want to talk about?" She asked.

"Well, while Sanders may not be a threat to us, he did render you helpless so Emily kept bugging me to start your training and I finally agreed," Her dad said smiling.

Melissa smiled in turn. She had been reading her Glaser Book of Shadows every day since her dad gave it to her and she had found several cool spells. She still had to test most of them, though. Patrick then opened the desk drawer and retrieved an old leather book with the same symbol on the cover the Nidaros ghosts had in their hoods.

"Very well, let's begin," He said.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Diana and Cassie were looking through the clothes and Diana pulled out a dress. "Cassie this would look fantastic on you," Diana said holding it up. The dress was completely red and Cassie did have to admit it was beautiful.

"Why are you looking at dresses? There's no upcoming dance," Cassie said.

"Well you never know what may happen. Jake might want to take you out someplace really nice and you need a new dress." Cassie gave Diana a look. "Come on just try it on. Besides our time as models was cut short so model this for me and make up for it."

Cassie rolled her eyes and laughed. "Fine I'll try it on, but there's no way we're buying it." Cassie said as she took the dress and went into the changing room.

Meanwhile, Balcoin walked into the store and was just in time to see Cassie walk out of the dressing room with the dress on. "You look beautiful in that. We have to buy it."

"No," Cassie said.

"I agree with Diana. Cassie you look beautiful in that dress," Balcoin said as he walked over to them making Cassie and Diana turn to look at the stranger.

"Um… thanks. Do we know you?" Cassie asked. As far as she could remember she had never met this man before even though he seemed familiar.

"No I guess you don't. I'm Booth and I know you two. You're two of the Balcoin children." Cassie and Diana froze and looked at each other.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Diana said and then to make herself seem clueless she asked, "What's Balcoin?"

Balcoin smiled. Diana didn't know how good of a question that was. "Oh Diana, I knew all about you six Balcoin children. Two from each of the three circles that left Salem all those years ago. Don't worry your secrets are safe with me. In fact I'll help you out Cassie?"

"Me?" Cassie asked confused.

"Yeah, there's something you don't know. There's something about your siblings that you don't know. I know you've been getting close to them lately but I would be concern if I were you. One of them did kill your mom."

"My mom died in an accident. A fire," Cassie said, as she didn't notice Diana put blocked up through their link right away.

"A fire yes. An accident, no. Someone set that fire magically. Someone you know. Someone you trust. Someone you're related too." Balcoin made a point of looking to Diana before he walked away leaving Cassie and Diana standing there.

"I'm going to go get out of this," Cassie said as she walked back into the changing room wondering if it was true. Diana was barely paying attention as Balcoin's words played in her mind. They were almost true one of Cassie's siblings hadn't killed her mom but one of her sibling's parents had. Diana was completely freaking out wondering how this person knew it wasn't an accident. One thing she knew though was that she had to hide this from Cassie at all cost.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

"What do you think he does all day, anyway?" Faye asked. She and Adam were both sitting in the car, waiting for Sanders to leave his house. "There's no school—where could he possibly be going?"

Adam shrugged. "Look, I honestly don't care. He's gone, and that means we can go destroy the artefacts in his house."

"Snag it, bag it, and tag it, then?" Faye offered brightly. Adam shot her a withering glare and got out of the truck. "Oh, God forbid I even make a joke. Fine, I'm coming!"

The two crept up to Sanders' door, and Adam kept watch while Faye picked the lock. After five minutes they were in (and she blamed Adam for all his dumb, "Of _course_ you would know how to pick a lock too!" jokes) and a quick survey around the place proved it was empty.

"You know, it's odd he keeps all this magical stuff and yet he has no safeguards on the house." Faye said, picking up what looked like a wooden statue of a demented elephant, squinting at it.

Adam appeared at the top of the stairs. "There are magical defences. I can bet if we'd tried to force our way in with magic he would have known in a second."

"All-powerful half-witch and his downfall is the simple human ability to pick a lock." Faye mused, laughing softly to herself. "Should we start?"

"Yeah, but no magic." He advised, disappearing back upstairs. "I'll get everything up here. He's got some sort of massive shrine in his bedroom."

Faye lifted a ceramic statue from the table where she'd gotten the elephant, and heaved it at a table covered in little glass ornaments and medallions. The room resounded with a satisfying crunch, bits of glass flying everywhere. A grin spread slowly across Faye's face. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy this."

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Melissa stared as her dad drew a very wide pentagram on the floor of living room with an aerosol. Emily looked like she wanted to flip as she loves her living room and likes to keep it clean but she was managing it. After it was done, her dad opened a window and sunlight filled the pentagram. Then he got an incense stick and put it on an ashtray over the desk before burning the tip with a lighter.

Melissa frowned as she recognized the smell. "Jasmine?" She asked.

Patrick nodded and opened his family book. "Listen Melissa, what I am about to do for you hasn't been done for a Nidaros in over a century," He stated. "That means that, while I know what to do, I haven't been around to witness it so, aside from a few family stories I don't know what to expect."

Melissa gulped and started feeling nervous. "What exactly are you going to do?"

"I am going to unlock the other half of your magic that has been dormant since the binding ceremony," Patrick explained. "I will do a part of the spell but I need you to focus on this one; more specifically, I need you to meditate."

Melissa nodded slowly. "Any advice?"

"Just relax as you sit inside the pentagram, try to focus on your subconscious without consciously trying and remember to smell the incense," Patrick said. "Then I will start chanting. From what I have heard, when this is done the witch in question can experience divination visions but it depends on the person and their possible futures they make through their own choices."

Melissa sighed and closed her eyes. She tried to relax her mind and body and breathe fully and slowly. She waited for a few minutes, feeling calmer by the second. After several more minutes, she was almost didn't hear her father begin the spell.

Parvulus antiquitas,

Ostendo sum vestri lux lucis,

Veneficus flows per cruor,

Versus quod heir,

Ego ostendo sum vos heir,

Nostri valde linteum,

Per solis ut meus testis

Ego permissum vos hereditas totus,

Sic mote is exsisto.

Melissa gasped after the last word and her eyes were shut tight as she felt something snap inside her. Suddenly, she was in the dark no longer, even though her eyes stay closed. The first thing she saw was a clearing but it wasn't the clearing of any woods she recognized. Then, a mist-like form started taking shape in front of her. All of Melissa's past experience with the supernatural was yelling at her that this was dangerous and to flee but some instinct in the back of her mind forced her to remain calm. She stared curiously as the mist turned into the robed form of an old woman, around her mid-sixties. She had dark brown eyes, greyish hair, and a kind smile.

"You have grown into a very beautiful young woman, Melissa," The woman said.

Melissa frowned as she tried to place the person in her memories. Surprisingly, she didn't place her from the memories of her life, but from her genetic memory; that feeling in your gut when you recognize a relative even though you have never seen them.

"Grandma?" Melissa asked with a surprised voice.

Her smile broadened. "Yes, I am Patrick's mother and the former leader of the Nidaros circle." She replied.

Melissa was beyond shocked. She remembered her dad saying she would experience visions but she didn't expected to contact the ghost of her witch grandma. She snapped out of her surprise when her grandmother started talking.

"I have been wishing to talk to you for a very long time," She said softly. "Last I saw you in life, you were a beautiful baby and I am sorry I wasn't there for you when you were growing up. When the medallion was activated I tried to find you but I couldn't talk to you without possessing someone."

Melissa frowned. "So you decided to possess Adam?" She asked with a hint of accusation.

Her grandmother sighed. "I didn't want to do that, but I was called back by the other spirits of my former coven because they found the medallion and in their desperation they became too blind to consider the atrocity they were about to make, so I entered Adam and used what power I had left in that ghost form to keep him from bleeding out," She explained. "I did manage to heal your mind from the overdose of devil spirit before leaving, though."

Melissa blinked as she remembered feeling better than she expected the day after Valentine's Day. "Well, thanks, I guess."

Her grandma nodded. "Melissa," She said pronouncing her name like an incantation, "You are the last remnant of the ancient might of the Nidaros family," She declared. "Patrick may still be alive but he lost most of his powers. You are the only one left to truly continue with the family legacy, which has endured for thousands of years. And that is why, with the help of the spell your father began, I am going to do something that hadn't been done to any member of our lineage since the Roman Empire conquered Egypt and killed most of our ancestors. I am going to unlock the other half of your magic."

Melissa smiled. For a long time she saw herself as the Achilles heel of her circle because she thought she was magically weak compared to the others. It seems she was wrong, though. She probably was nearly as strong as Cassie and Diana. The only difference was that half of her potential was dormant and that was about to change. She could finally help her circle in dangerous situations as an equal and stop being a liability.

"After you wake up you will be twice as powerful as you were before but I am adding something extra," Her grandmother said. "In life threatening situations your magic will increase as your desperation increases. Outside of combat, it will probably take you years to master your power-enhancement through channeling the might of your bloodline but you should be able to get there eventually. Now as a ghost, the flow of time works differently for me because the line between present and future is thinner in my case," She explained. "That is why, when I trigger the process that will unlock your powers you will experience several visions of your future."

Melissa frowned. "Why?"

Her grandmother's expression turn unreadable but her eyes spelled warning. "That's a mechanism design to give an idea of what potential dangers the current heir of our bloodline might face," She said. "However, the visions will be brief and won't probably give much away."

Melissa huffed in annoyance. "Must things _always _be cryptic? Why can't things be easy and straightforward?"

Her grandmother shrugged. "Time is not something to mess with frequently," She stated. "There are situations that are really likely to happen but with enough supernatural influence of events in the right direction, those paths can change course. Take Cassie and Adam for instance," She pointed out. "Their destiny together changed because of magic getting in the way."

Melissa stared in surprise. "Then if it wasn't for the family curse they really would have ended up married?"

Her grandmother looked uncomfortable but said nothing. Melissa frowned but before she could press the issue further she changed the subject.

"You did the right thing, by the way, in befriending the younger siblings," She said.

"You mean Claire and Dylan?" Melissa asked.

Her grandmother nodded. "Our families may not be written in the stars but we have been friends for thousands of years and in most generations our members meet, we usually become friends," She said with a smile. "In fact, John was probably drawn to your parents because of our shared ancestry."

Melissa was starting to get confused but from what she was hearing it seems the Nidaros and the Balcoins share some mutual friendship since the distant past, which raised a question on itself.

"Then why did John killed you and the rest of your circle?" Melissa couldn't help but ask.

Her grandmother's expression didn't turn into anger like she expected, but cold dread. "There are things neither you nor your friends know about the Balcoin bloodline, Melissa, and you will learn them soon enough, just not from me," She claim. "I am already dead, my granddaughter, only because of my once vast magical power had I been able to remain anchored to this world once the Medallion was destroyed and that is what has allow me to influence events on my own but I still have a limit of what information I can reveal," She said softly. "I would love to guide you more but there are worse things than death and I don't want overdo my work. It might change the possible futures for the worse.

Melissa shivered at the grim tone of her voice. Whatever she can't tell me is huge, that's for sure, but it seems it's also really bad news.

"Well, we will cross that bridge when we get to it," She said, trying to shake her sudden fear away.

Her grandmother nodded. "Now, I will finish the process your father started. I would like to stay longer Melissa, but my time should have been up a long while ago. However, I will tell you one last piece of advice: no matter how powerful a foe may be, their strength has roots that lead to its origins," She explained. "So, whenever you don't know how to defeat an enemy, try to figure out how to cut the head of the snake and the rest of the body will flounder," She suggested. "Stay strong, Melissa…stay free," Her grandma whispered.

With that, her grandma returned to her mist shape and as her essence started to glow with golden light. When the light turned into an orb almost too bright to see, it approached Melissa and penetrated her chest. Melissa's knees hit the ground as images started passing through her eyes.

She saw a man with dark brown hair in the shores of Chance Harbor's lake. He could have passed for an ordinary man but his eyes were pure evil and definitely not human.

Then the scene changed abruptly. She now saw the same man with an army of faceless beings behind his back, causing an orgy of destruction. She heard agonizing screams living fire hunt down and incinerated their prey.

In another change of scenery, she saw the same evil man fighting 7 figures. She saw the desperation on all their faces, even though she couldn't distinguish them for some unknown reason. Then she saw a massive explosion of magical energy that blasted her away to a new picture.

This was the one that sacred Melissa the most. She was in a ship but like no other ship. It was made completely of white and very dead bones. And in the front of the ship, staring at the fog was a figure completely covered in black robes. The very sight of him made Melissa shiver. Then, the figure turned to face her and it had a mask also made of bones that covered his upper face. His eyes were visible, though, and they were red; soulless red eyes that seem to see right through her.

The robed figure approached her and gave her a grin follow by laughter of utter madness. Melissa screamed in fear but she knew right away she didn't scream with her voice.

It was the desperate shriek of a little girl calling for her mother.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Cassie and Diana walked into the Boathouse and right away saw Lucas, Ryder, Claire, and Dylan sitting at one of the tables. _'I'm going to confront them about this,'_ Cassie told Diana as she walked over to the tables.

Claire and Dylan smiled as they walked up. "Cassie, Diana," the two said happy to see them. "Join us."

Cassie didn't sit down as she looked for the right words and then Balcoin came up to them. "Cassie, Diana good to see you again and with all the Balcoin siblings." Claire, Dylan Lucas, and Ryder were shocked by Balcoin's words not knowing who this man was and how he knew who they were. "Did you find out which one of them killed your mother yet?"

"What?" Claire said confused and could see by the looks on Dylan, Lucas, and Ryder's face they were confused too.

Balcoin ignored her though. "Let see who your choices are. Lucas and Ryder little orphans who mommies hated their daddy so much they abandon them. Lived in foster homes together until daddy came to their rescue. They would do anything daddy said including kill. John Blackwell had reason to want Amelia dead didn't he? To get you back to Chance Harbor and the Circle so his plan could be put into action."

"Hey!" Lucas yelled getting angry at this guy, how did he know about their past? And how dare he accuse them of killing Cassie's mom.

"Save your defense for after I'm done with everyone," Balcoin said as he looked at Claire and Dylan. "Or maybe the little twins who were trained in magic their entire lives by their mom. They know how to set a fire magically and might have wanted all their siblings together. Or maybe Lucas and Ryder sent them to do it. They were doing everything for the two; just ask Melissa how far they would go. They did trick Melissa to a lake where Lucas and Ryder tried to kill her. Do you even know how long they've been with your older brothers?"

"Hey, that's not fair," Dylan, said confused, angry, and curious how Balcoin knew all these.

"It's all true," Balcoin said and then looked at Diana. "Then there is Diana. I guess she is the less likely person to do this. Hasn't been practicing magic long. No reason to want you here…. Oh wait she did want a full Circle didn't she. Maybe she thought killing Amelia was the only way, but no. You would know something like that about Diana through your link wouldn't you?" Balcoin walked away when he was done and Diana was praying Cassie wasn't able to hear her thoughts because all she could think about was Charles.

"Murders," Cassie hissed at Lucas and Ryder. "You two killed my mom. Didn't you?"

"No," Ryder said standing up followed by Lucas.

"I don't believe you," Cassie said.

"You're going to trust that guy more than us?" Lucas asked.

"He was right about everything wasn't he?" Cassie could tell by the looks on Lucas and Ryder face that Balcoin had said the truth about their past. "You killed her."

"Look I don't know how he knew about the orphan stuff, but we didn't do anything to your mom," Ryder said.

Claire and Dylan jumped up. "Guys let's not fight."

"Or maybe you did send your little puppy dogs," Cassie said looking at Claire and Dylan. "How long have you four been together again? You never actually did say."

"Hey, we wouldn't kill your mom," Claire told Cassie.

"Past proves you wrong. You've all been terrors since you got here. What did you do to Melissa at a lake?" None of the four really answered. "You four are murders." Lucas had it and he pushed Cassie. Cassie stumbled back and then pushed Lucas back.

Diana jumped up trying to get in-between them, but it just lead to her fighting along with Cassie and the others. All of them screaming and yelling at each other and physically pushing each other.

At that time Jake walked in to see the fighting. "Hey break it up," Jake yelled walking over trying to break them up.

"Stay out of this Jake," Cassie told her boyfriend. "Family problem." And then the six continued to fight with each other.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Faye let out a happy squeal when she saw the delicate glass ball bouncing down the stairs, smash at the bottom. Now this was definitely a fun time. When Balcoin had approached them, Faye had gotten a bad feeling, again. She really wasn't too bothered about messing with Sanders, I mean he had barely any power and most of the power he did have came from his little toys. Most of which were now smashed all over the house.

Just as Faye pushed another one of the glass balls down the stairs she heard the front door open. Jumping up she covered her mouth with her hand to muffle the sound of shock that was about to escape her mouth. Sanders was supposed to be in a meeting until six. Feeling hands on her hips pulling her back from the stairs, she let out a small gasp before she heard a small 'Shhh...' from Adam as he held her close.

The two of them listened carefully as they heard Sanders footsteps moving around the house, obviously checking the damage downstairs. When they heard the crunching of glass, Faye panicked slightly. The glass was at the bottom of the stairs, Sanders was definitely going to find them.

"Listen," Adam whispered in Faye's ear before Faye heard what must have been the back door of the house burst open and footsteps heading away from the stairs.

After a moment Faye hadn't stopped watching the stairs, Sanders knew about magic had he really believed that whoever was in his house to destroy his magical artefacts was without magic. What Adam had done was such an old trick and against anyone who was oblivious to magic it was great but Sanders was different.

"Come on" Adam breathed before he started backing away from the stairs pulling Faye with him.

"Where are we going?" Faye asked in a whisper, where were they going to hide?

"Do you trust me?"

"Is that a trick question?"

"Faye!"

"Yes, now if you have a genius idea of getting us out of here before creeper finds us then do it" she said in a harsh whisper. They needed to get out of here quick, the house really wasn't that big.

The two carried on backing up, Faye assumed that Adam knew what he was doing and where he was going so she simply followed him. When they reached a closed door, Adam gave Faye a quick squeeze before letting go and turning to magically open the door without it making any noise. Both witches slipped in and quietly closed the door as they heard the door downstairs close again. Did that mean Sanders had left or did that mean he was done downstairs?

When Adam opened the window Faye gave him a disbelieving look, "Are you kidding me?" she whispered and Adam shrugged,

"You want to go first?" He asked quietly and Faye rolled her eyes.

"Never go first or last" she mumbled as Adam simply smiled,

"Well then you're screwed" He teased in a whisper before he started climbing out the window.

"Last it is then" Faye muttered as Adam started moving down. Moving over to the window she saw the trellis attached to Sander's side wall and Adam climbing down it. It was definitely a good way out, if Sanders had come back inside, if not well they were really screwed.

Once Adam was down he motioned to Faye to come down quickly and Faye took a calming breath. This was not how she had planned to spend her day. Climbing out of the window was a little awkward, but finally she was out and her feet were secure. Reaching up slightly she started to slowly slide the window closed, they didn't want Sanders to know how they got out of the house or to follow them.

Just as Faye was about to close the window, she heard Sanders opening and closing doors obviously checking rooms for the intruders. Pulling the window closed the last little bit, Faye started to make quick work of climbing down the trellis. When she was nearly down, she felt hands on her waist and Adam lift her down before they headed for the street. Sanders was upstairs but would he really be checking out of the windows? Did it even matter? They were entitled to walk down the street near their teachers' house, it was a free country.

The two were quiet as they walked back to Adam's truck, they had been smart enough to park far enough away to stop Sanders seeing the truck if he came home. However they did not plan an escape if Sanders came home, they were lucky that there had been an easy escape route.

Once they were both sat in the truck they looked at each other and burst out laughing. The rush from escaping Sanders had obviously taken its toll on the two. But it felt good to laugh, they didn't have fun anymore. Everything was about avoiding the Circle, talking to Balcoin, dealing with Sanders, they may say to the Circle they have plans but most of the plans include Adam working or Balcoin.

After a good minute or so of laughing Adam started the engine, "Boathouse?"

"Can't we go somewhere else?" Faye asked a hint of begging in her voice,

"I would say yes but I have a shift in an hour." Adam said not sounding very enthusiastic about the fact they couldn't do something else.

"The Boathouse it is then." Faye said giving Adam a half smile before he started driving to the Boathouse.

The journey was just as quiet as their walk from Sanders to the truck, but this time it was because of the realisation that maybe things were starting to go downhill. Once they reached the Boathouse, they both got out of the truck and headed for the front door.

As soon as Adam pushed the door open all the two could hear was shouting and arguing. Moving into the Boathouse they saw the cause of the noise, "Typical Cassie causing drama." Faye said sitting down on one of the stools at the bar looking bored.

"Maybe we should do something?" Adam asked, he wasn't really sure what to do to break up the fight. He was usually the one having fights in the Boathouse.

"Or maybe we should leave them to their drama and celebrate." Faye suggested as Adam took out his phone, "What are you doing?"

"Texting Melissa."

"Great add another super witch to the party." Faye muttered

"Jealousy isn't a good look on you Faye" Adam told her and Faye just gawked at him before her attention was taken by Ethan who had come out of the back and was now trying to break the siblings up.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

"Melissa, wake up!" Her father's voice snapped her awake.

Melissa stared at the faces of her parents, more than a little disoriented. Her stepmom looked freaked.

"Melissa, are you okay?" She asked very worried. "Are you hurt?"

Melissa shook her head. "No, in fact…I feel good," She suddenly realized. "Better than ever," She emphasized.

Her parents glance at each other and then Patrick stared at her. "Do something magical," He urged.

Melissa nodded and did the first thing that came to her mind; she set a fire on the wood in the fireplace. Melissa gaped at it. It was so easy and it barely consumed any energy whatsoever.

Patrick smiled. "Seems like it worked."

Then the memories came flooding back to her. "Dad, not only was the other half of my magical potential unlocked," She revealed. "Your mother appeared as a ghost in my subconscious and got the process done."

Patrick stared and gasp at what he heard. "Really? What did she say?"

Melissa then went on explaining her conversation with her grandmother and finally about those weird visions she experienced. When she was done, Patrick looked concerned.

"Well, it seems we will get into trouble in the near future," He muttered. "We should be careful and try to be prepared for anything."

Melissa nodded. Then her stepmom came and hugged her hard.

"I know I am not a witch but remember that if you need anything I will do all I can to help you," She promised.

Melissa smiled and hugged her harder. Then the moment was ruined as her cell phone rang. She looked at it and a text said that she is needed at the Boathouse. Realizing it must be urgent as Adam was the one texting, she said goodbye to her parents and left.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Melissa quickly rushed through the car park; she could see everyone stood outside the boathouse, they weren't arguing anymore but everyone still looked angry and upset. When she reached the group she quickly went over to Adam, hoping he could explain.

"Hey what's happened?" Melissa asked Adam.

"I don't know all the details, but Cassie was shouting at all the Balcoin's; she kept saying something about them being murderers. She wasn't making much sense but she was really upset. My dad calmed them down and told everyone to get out." Adam told her, Faye walked over to join them just as he finished explaining.

"This is nice, having a little secret chat are we?" Faye asked sarcastically.

"Adam was just explaining what happened," Melissa told her.

"Oh yes, little miss perfect over there had a massive temper tantrum." Faye moaned, before dragging Adam back over to where the others were.

Melissa quickly went to join the others; as she got there she realised Cassie had started shouting again; she was trying not to cry as she screamed at Ryder, Lucas, Claire and Dylan. Diana was trying to calm her down but it wasn't working, she was screaming her head off.

"YOU'RE MURDERERS! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!" Cassie screamed at them.

Lucas, Ryder, Claire and Dylan stood looking like they had no clue what Cassie was going on about.

"What are you talking about?" Lucas asked her.

"DON'T PRETEND YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! ONE OF YOU KILLED MY MUM!" She screams, before breaking down.

"What are you on about? We've never even met your mother." Ryder told her but she ignored them.

Melissa went over to Cassie, hoping to calm her down and sort everything out.

"Cassie, who told you they killed her?" Melissa asked her quietly, "I thought she died in a fire." She added.

"She did, but one of them must have started it." She started explaining, "the firemen never did understand how it started."

"But who told you they did it?" Melissa asked her.

"Some freaky old guy, I don't who he is. He came and told us when Diana and I were shopping earlier. He said one of my siblings killed my mum. Then turned up at the Boathouse before, he knew all about it" Cassie told her.

"How can you trust him though, he was probably just lying." Melissa said.

"I'm not sure," Diana told her, looking very pale and worried. "He knew who we were, he knew who our father was and knew we were witches. He was obviously some old witch or someone coming to warn us about something." Cassie nodded in agreement.

"Yeah but it couldn't have been any of them, they would never do that. Plus Cassie they didn't even know about you when your mother died. It was a long time ago." Melissa told her.

"But he said it was them –

"It wasn't us!" Ryder interrupted, hoping she'd believe them. "I promise you Cassie, we never did anything to harm your mother."

"Stop Lying!" Cassie shouted.

"Will you all just shut up? This is so boring; I really don't care about this." Faye told everyone. "Adam let's go, there's somewhere we have to be." Faye told him, grabbing his hand and pulling him away. She shot everyone a smirk across her shoulder as she walked to Adam's car.

"Just Ignore her," Melissa told Cassie, trying to calm her down.

"I couldn't care about Faye; I just want to know the truth." Cassie told Melissa, wiping tears out her eyes.

"Cassie none of them could have killed your mum." Melissa tried to tell her.

"Yes they could, he said they did and I believe him, I just want to know who it was." Cassie said loudly, so everyone would hear.

"It wasn't any of us!" Ryder shouted at her.

"JUST SHUT UP!" Cassie shouted, getting even angrier.

Nothing anyone could do would calm her down. Diana and Melissa both tried to calm her down and make her see sense; but it wasn't working.

"Cassie come on let's go home." Diana said grabbing her arm and trying to pull her away from where she was having a screaming match with an angry Lucas.

Eventually Diana dragged Cassie to her car; she quickly made her get in and drove away, leaving Melissa to sort everything out. Melissa watched as she drove away; she was really worried about Cassie. Sighing Melissa turned round and headed back to where everyone was standing; hopefully she could fix this and calm them down.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Once Faye and Adam were clear of the front of the Boathouse and could only just hear Cassie accusing the Balcoins, again, for killing her mother, Faye turned to Adam.

"We have a problem." Faye said simply her arms crossed over her chest as she waited for an answer from Adam.

Adam shook his head slightly before looking to Faye, "What, why?" he asked obviously not filling in the blanks Faye already had. Rolling her eyes she looked to Adam,

"Some freaky old guy going up to Cassie and Diana and telling them one of the Balcoin's killed Cassie's mom..." Faye told him looking at him like it was the most obvious thing in the world. But Adam still had no idea what she was talking about and Faye let out a frustrated sigh,

"Look if what was said to Cassie and Diana is true there is only one person out there who could know that about them. Someone who could get inside their heads and know everything about them" Faye elaborated. When Adam still looked like he had no clue, Faye let out a groan of frustration and ran a hand through her hair.

"You seriously don't get it do you?" She asked him,

"No, so enlighten me." Adam said his voice a little patronising, "Who did this?"

"Me." A familiar voice spoke causing Faye and Adam to both turn around quickly to face Balcoin.

"Why?" Faye asked immediately before she thought it through, they were supposed to be cautious around Balcoin and questioning him may not have been the best idea.

"Because it was part of my plan, Faye" Balcoin told her simply.

Faye didn't know how to respond to that, she wanted to ask what his plan was. But did she really want to know what he was planning or was it better to stay in the dark? If something went down and it affected the Circle would they really believe that Faye and Adam knew nothing about it, but then was it better to know what was going on when they were accused. Faye honestly didn't know what was for the best anymore, had they gotten themselves in too deep?

"So who did kill Cassie's mom?" Adam asked shaking Faye out of her phase and causing Balcoin to raise an eyebrow,

"That would ruin the surprise, wouldn't it?" Balcoin responded easily,

"Well, we're curious" Faye told him and she was. If one of the Balcoins killed Cassie's mom, they would be out of all of their lives and maybe everyone would drop the fact the dark magic is gone.

"Curiosity killed the cat." Balcoin replied with a smirk before looking between Faye and Adam "What I will tell you is that I need the children of Blackwell separated. They are more powerful than they realise and I don't want them together when I execute my plan." He told them before he muttered "I will not fail again."

Hearing the muttered words Faye frowned slightly, she didn't know what he meant but she was going to find out. It was time for Faye to do a little research on Balcoin.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Balcoin waited for his summoning spell to take effect. He was on the Lake, channeling the energy from its magical hotspot, wondering if his old frienemy will answer the call. Then, he sensed matter take shape in the rocks of the shore and a burst of dark energy surrounded it.

Balcoin smirked as he looked at the figure. "Still like to hide in those black robes I see," He said chuckling.

"And you still like to show your face to anyone with an arrogant attitude," The figure said in a cold voice through a mask made of bones.

"Humph, you haven't changed much," Balcoin muttered. "You are still one of the few beings I have met with the guts to stand up to me."

"It helps when my powers grow over the millennia while yours are sealed for the same amount of time," The figure said in an amusing, but challenging tone.

Balcoin growled. "And you still have the same insulting tongue too."

The figure didn't reply to that. Instead he crossed his arms. "Why did you summon me here?"

"Because I am going to set things right," Balcoin vowed. "I am finally going to fulfill my plan to tip the balance between good and evil and I was wondering if you wanted to help me."

The figure's expression was unreadable because of the mask but the amount of time he stay silent indicated he was considering it.

"You are talking about the plan that made Francis so desperate he was willing to taint his bloodline to prevent it?" He asked.

Balcoin nodded. "But this time, there are only a few witches that will try to stop me, and neither of them knows how so they are no real threat to beings like the two of us."

The figure sighed exasperatedly. "And there it is again, your stupid arrogance that has been your downfall no less than 3 times," He said in contempt. "I really thought you would know better by now."

Balcoin glared. "I am offering you a chance to increase your power and authority and you dare insult me?"

"Yes," The figure spat. "And I am not done. As powerful as you may be, I would never help you. Your mistakes have been holding us demons back for thousands of years. Moreover, you never seem to learn your lessons. Don't assume that because your enemies don't know how to vanquish you they are not a threat to you because as long as they oppose you they might find a way. I know you have plans for them once the main stage is completed but if I were you, I would kill them all before they get a chance to strike at me. It would be a necessary loss," He declared.

Balcoin seethed in anger. "So, you wish to fight me then?" He asked in a voice as harsh as a snow storm.

The figure shook his robed head. "I will let the Sunwalker descendants handle it. They have best you twice before; they could do it again. And if they do…" The figure said slowly with sadistic delight in his tone. "I have my own agenda for them if they get you out of the way."

Balcoin's glare intensified to a savage stare. He then raised his palm and a blast of black lightning erupted from his fingertips. The cloaked creature, however, disappeared into thin air before the coalition.

While he could not be seen anymore, Balcoin heard its evil cackling. "Your temper, Balcoin, is what will always keep you from truly being great."

Balcoin breathed heavily and storm away from the lake; swearing to destroy his old rival as he did so, as soon as he got the chance.

**Anon reviews:**

**Guest: Who said we were letting go of Adam/Cassie? ;) anything can happen**

**Eva: Thank you so much!**

**BaconLuvva: good to see you're back again. Hope the supposed bacon shortage wasn't too rough on you.**

**Tina: you're very welcome :) and yeah, it's such a great idea! We'll definitely consider it, and if it's not in this season we might do it season 3.**

**Stephanie: glad you liked it**


	17. Aphelion

**ATTENTION (SERIOUSLY, read it please): Since school has started for all the writers, we'll be updating every other week instead of every week. Sorry about that :(**

**Also, if you check out my profile you can find a link for a TSC roleplay that we run, and an absolutely BRILLIANT trailer that Marril96 made for us!**

**Many thanks to CelloChick90, our new editor! It's great to have another person on the team :)**

**Plotline writers – Forcystus5, flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B**

**Writers –, Forcystus5, CharmedMilliE, ilove2dance, witch-witha-B, TtylerMaria**

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**Disclaimer: We don't own The Secret Circle**

Episode 17 – "Aphelion"

Nicholas Sanders started pacing back and forth in his house while clenching his fists. This was an absolute disaster and he couldn't believe it. He had spent half his life looking for his collection of magical artefacts all around the western hemisphere and someone just destroyed most of them.

He grimaced as he looked at the shattered pieces of his pendant made of jade he used to help mend the relationship of Cassie and Diana. Starting to feel dizzy out of shock and sadness, he forced himself to sit down on the couch.

He breathed heavily and reminded himself he still had a small part of his collection in a bank vault with seven keys half way across the country, but there was one question that wouldn't let him sleep until he answered it: who could have done this?

The first thing he did was review a list in his mind of everyone aside from the Circle who knew about his magical artefact collection. There were only a handful of them. The first was his witch mother of course, but even if she were still alive she would never do such a thing. Then there was Eva, his former voodoo student, who he was once forced to save from certain death with a healing artefact. A mountain lion had mauled her, and he had to explain so the 12-year-old girl didn't go to her parents babbling about a Hogwarts teacher.

Sanders frowned as he remembered the conversation he had with Diana and Faye on the subject. Eva must be nineteen by now and she must have changed, if only slightly, from the sweet girl he remembered. But he hadn't been able to contact her at all since he remembered he was in her state, which means she was either dead or in hiding.

Then there could be his old witch apprentice from Duke University in the Folklore class, Janett Monroe. He taught her a lot and she always did have a clever imagination when it came to getting her way, but for as long as they had kept in touch, she had never given him any reason to make him think she would crush his lifelong project.

Sanders eyes narrowed slightly as he considered the most likely possibility. His old rival from his witch archaeologist profession, Rene Talbot. True enough, they hadn't seen each other in over a year, but who else could it be? That man is practically a bounty hunter, selling magical objects to the highest bidder.

His face contorted in anger as he remembered their last encounter. They had been fighting on the ancient Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan, over the top of the towering Temple of the Sun to gain control of a nearly 2,000 year old relic called the Orb of the Sun, the most powerful light magic amplifier in Native American history.

Talbot may be a pure-blooded witch, naturally stronger than Sanders, but he kept fewer artefacts than his half witch counter-part because he sold most of them. That's what angered Sanders. Magical artefacts belong to people with magical blood and to help train the next generation, not to anyone who can pay them in the Black Market, and certainly not to witch hunters and demons.

At any rate, they fought off on the Temple of the Sun, trying to overpower each other with different branches of magic. And then, when Sanders finally had him on his knees after breaching his magical shield with a blast of combined telekinetic and electro-kinetic energy, the strangest thing happened. His next lightning strike that would have knocked him out cold was blocked by a visible veil of intense dark magic.

Sanders then looked around and saw a figure in black robes, a mask made of bones, and soulless red eyes. To Sanders's horror, he knew right then and there that in front of him was one of the ancient demons.

Acting on desperate impulse, he unleashed a fire storm at him with shamanist magic, but the demonic being merely waved his hand and the flames were gone. Starting to panic, Sanders moved backwards toward the temple walls as the demon approached. He only said one thing to him that had puzzled Sanders ever since. He said he could use a half witch as clever and dedicated as him when the time was right, and after snapping his fingers, he started feeling sleepy. The last thing he remembered before darkness took him was the demon taking the Orb of the Sun and teleporting away with Talbot.

Sanders sighed as he stopped remembering the past. He still wasn't sure what use he could have been for that ancient demon, much less why he wanted him on his side, but one thing was for sure: Talbot worked for him. He could have hired him to track Sanders down and destroy artefacts he didn't like, while taking some for the demon's use; or Talbot could have worked on his own and destroyed them out of his own grudge to make him weaker.

At any rate, he needed more information to be sure. So, he decided he would have to ask the Circle if they saw anything or anyone weird yesterday.

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Cassie sat quietly, thinking over what Balcoin had told her. She just couldn't believe it. How could one of her siblings do that? Cassie felt nothing but anger when she tried to work out who could have killed her mom. She just couldn't believe she'd been murdered. How could someone do that to her for no reason?! Cassie felt anger bubbling up inside her and decided to try and focus on her class instead to distract herself. It of course didn't work. She just couldn't forget what Balcoin had told her, or get over the anger she was feeling about it.

Adam and Faye were sitting together at the back of the class having a quick, whispered conversation and completely ignoring everything the history teacher was saying at the front of the class.

"But why is he doing it? I just don't understand," whispered Faye, confused.

"He knows what he's doing. We don't need to question him." Adam forcefully hissed at Faye.

"Why does he want the Circle to break apart though?" Faye whispered, "That could end badly."

"I don't know Faye, I'm sure it will work out though. Balcoin knows what he's doing." Adam told her.

"Are you not worried though?" Faye whispered back.

"No, will you just leave it?" Adam asked, "Just shut up about it." Adam told her harshly, turning back round to face the front and ignoring Faye.

Diana was sitting in class, silently worrying to herself. She had to remember to keep her mental block up, which was causing her to stress even more. She was biting her nails, and not taking in any of the information their history professor was teaching. As much as she wanted to focus and listen, she just couldn't. She was just too distracted. She couldn't stop worrying about what would happen if Cassie kept digging about her mother's death. Diana was really scared she'd find out the truth and hate her forever. Diana couldn't lose Cassie, not again.

Melissa, on her part, was just smiling like a big idiot. She finally felt strong; more importantly, she felt much more reliable. When she got home last night, her dad started teaching her a few spells, and she quickly discovered her father's favorite method of dealing with someone who might be a threat to you: make a magical show so spectacular, or traumatic if you know what your enemy is scared of, that they will flee without daring to call your bluff. As her father phrased it, "better being a showoff than being dead or carrying the guilt of murder with you".

She chuckled. Finally things seem to be going her way.

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The Circle just finished their very first quiet class under Sanders's watch. He just asked them to read his folkloric notebook and quietly discuss their favorite topics in groups. After that, he was quiet for the rest of the class, staring at a book that looked like a telephone guide and groaning when he didn't seem to get hold of someone.

When the class was over, he told the Circle to wait for a moment. When the class left, he closed the door and sighed.

"Look, I know you have another class to go to so I will get straight to the point," Mr. Sanders said. "Did you see anything or anyone strange yesterday?"

Cassie and Diana looked at each other, wondering if he wanted to know about the strange man who knew about Amelia's murder, while Faye and Adam just stared blankly.

"Why do you ask?" Cassie ended up asking.

"Because someone broke into my house and destroyed most of my collection of magical artefacts," He practically moaned.

"Well I guess warehouse finally found you then, huh? Artie sent out his agents." Faye said with a laugh, trying to sound like she was completely joking.

Adam smiled and joined in. "Claudia Donovan broke into your home and went through your stuff."

"Did they Tesla you?" Faye said, and the two laughed.

Melissa, Cassie, and Diana looked at the two. They might be joking around, but the three were pretty sure they were doing it to hide the fact that they were the ones who did it.

Sanders seemed confused. "Warehouse?" Sanders asked and then shook his head. "Well, if you have any real information let me know."

"Sure," Diana agreed, even though she had no intention of telling Sanders about the weird guy. Neither did anyone else in the group.

As they walked out, Cassie turned to the others. "Is it bad I feel so much safer now that he doesn't have all that power?" Cassie questioned.

"No, I'm with you there," Melissa said ,remembering the storm Sanders had made.

Diana nodded. "Yeah, I think I might be able to learn to trust him with the artefacts gone." Diana added as they headed to their next class.

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Faye slung her bag quickly over the counter before taking her usual seat at the Boathouse. Yet again her plans had been thrown out the window when Adam's dad had gone and gotten drunk again before lunch, causing Adam to miss half of school and cancel his plans with his girlfriend.

Faye was honestly sick of the Boathouse; she had been in the place way too often since she started dating Adam. The whole Circle had ditched the place for the new Cafe in town for a change of scenery and to stop Adam's dad from overhearing anything they spoke about. Not that he would remember it, but that wasn't the point. But now, without even realizing it, the whole Circle was spending most of their time here again. It was mostly because if they had a Circle meeting, Adam was likely to be working.

And Adam seemed to be working a lot of overtime lately since his dad was getting worse, and ever since the Balcoin situation had happened, Adam had been quiet about his dad's 'problem'. But it wasn't helping anyone; if anything it was driving a wedge between Adam and his dad as well as Adam and Faye. But that wedge was a lot smaller than the wedge Balcoin had put between Faye and Adam.

Every time Faye was left on her own to think, her thoughts went back to Balcoin, and the situation she and Adam had put themselves in. Her brain hurt so much when she thought about it, but she couldn't help it, she was by herself so often because everyone in the Circle basically hated them and Adam was constantly working. Faye was definitely spending too much quality time with herself. Normally she would be okay with having time away from the Circle, but times change and so do people.

Adam had changed, in Faye's opinion, and the change in him was exactly the reason she was not telling him. Faye wasn't often one to worry or be scared, but in the last few months she had been a lot more like the Faye before the Circle than she would like to admit. People often changed because they wanted to, and Faye did not want to change back to that ever.

Seeing a hand waving in front of her face, Faye looked into the face of her boyfriend.

"So, you are in there somewhere?" He teased and Faye simply rolled her eyes. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing, except the fact I am bored out of my mind." Faye told him honestly, waiting to see his reaction.

"Well then go hang out with your friends. Oh wait, you don't have any, do you?" Adam said, his mean streak coming out. Now this was what she had been thinking about, the Adam they all knew would normally have apologized, but these days he got bitchy. It was like he and Faye had swapped personalities, but Faye wasn't going to stand for it anymore.

"Ooo, Bitch." Faye said sarcastically, "And what about your non-existent friends, are they going to join us?"

"Whatever Faye." Adam said, turning and walking off, leaving her with a smug feeling. Maybe she hadn't lost her mean girl personality after all. But a part of her was still worried about confronting Adam about Balcoin.

Things were going to change around here; Adam was not going to control her life. She had never let Jake do that, so why was Adam getting away with it? How had she even gotten into this position? Power and magic, it always came back to the feelings of being so powerless all those years ago, but she wasn't powerless, and she was going to prove it.

Faye sat around for a while before Adam was within a good distance where she could get his attention.

"Adam." She called waiting for him to respond. He seemed to freeze slightly and take a breath before turning and giving her a look. "Don't give me that look. We need to talk."

"Well, I'm busy Faye." Adam told her, trying to make himself look busy, causing Faye to send him a look.

"Make yourself un-busy." She said simply and watched as Adam let out another sigh and chucked down the towel he was holding,

"Fine."

"Nice to know how much you want to talk to your girlfriend." Faye said sarcastically, standing up and walking around and into the back.

Adam reluctantly followed Faye into the back, the two stood in the back room staring at each other until Adam broke the silence, "What did you want, Faye?"

"I told you, I want to talk." Faye told him innocently.

"No games Faye, get on with it." Adam said.

"Now this is what we need to talk about." Faye told him giving him a pointed look.

"What the hell are you on about?"

"I'm on about the fact that you act more like the bitchy me than you act like yourself."

"I haven't got time for an intervention."

"Make time." Faye told him. "Ever since the woods you have been acting more and more like a complete ass and enough is enough!"

"Afraid of a little competition?"

"And this is what I am talking about!" Faye said, exasperated. It was like he wasn't hearing a word she was saying, "As soon as Balcoin was summoned you changed, and I am the only one who seemed to notice again."

"What do you want me to say? Well done and a pat on the back." Adam asked.

"The old Adam back would be nice." Faye told him, "What has he done to you? We have enough power to fight him..." Faye stopped when she heard Adam laugh.

"I get what this is about," Adam said. "You think I'm Balcoin's favourite and I'm getting more power than you."

"This has nothing to do with power, it's about the fact that we should have never trusted him, and now you're acting like his lap dog!"

"Enough, Faye!" Adam said, his voice rising,

"No one tells me what to do." Faye told him calmly.

"Well I am, your loyalties should be with Balcoin, and if they aren't, then we'll have to have a word with him about what to do with you."

Faye scoffed, "What are you gonna do, Adam? You going to kill me this time?" She asked.

"Stop fussing Faye, it's getting boring." Adam told her, turning and leaving the room. Faye stood there for a second before following Adam out. Once he was in the main section of the Boathouse, she grabbed her bag and stormed out.

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Diana was heading down the stairs as she saw Cassie open the door. "Cassie, where are you going?"

"Nowhere," Cassie said, turning around to lean against the door.

"You're going to go confront our siblings, aren't you?" Diana asked, but it sounded more like a statement. She knew Cassie pretty well by now.

"No," Cassie answered, but knew by Diana face she wasn't getting away with that. "Fine, it's driving me nuts that one of them killed my mom or even if they knew who killed my mom and they are hiding it from me. That would be as bad as killing her themselves."

Diana immediately put up a mental block as thoughts about Charles and the night he told her what he did came into her mind. This time Diana's quick block didn't go unnoticed by Cassie. "Why are you blocking me? You've been doing that a lot lately."

Diana shook her head, trying to look innocent. "I don't think so. Just needed some privacy."

"No, you just started blocking me when I mentioned about my mom…." Cassie paused as she thought it over. "Do you know who did it?"

"No," Diana answered.

"You're lying. You know and you're not telling me. Who was it? Lucas and Ryder? Why would you protect them though? It was the younger ones, wasn't it? Claire and Dylan? I knew their little goody act was too good to be true. Well?" Diana paused, not knowing what to say. "Nevermind, don't tell me. I'm going to find out though."

Cassie stormed out of the house. Diana was shocked for a minute before she ran down the stairs. "Cassie wait," Diana said, thinking this was going too far. Cassie was going crazy. "Cassie." Diana looked outside, but found Cassie was gone already. _"Cassie come home. We need to talk,"_ Diana thought to her sister, but knew it didn't go through. Cassie was blocking her. Diana sighed as she closed the door and took a seat in the living room. She was going to wait here for Cassie to come back.

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Lucas and Ryder were walking along the pier in Chance Harbour, enjoying the nice weather and having fun teasing people and make snide comments about everything.

"Why are we even still living in this dump?" Ryder asked Lucas.

"You know why. We have to." Lucas told him forcefully.

"But I mean just look at the people who live here!" Ryder exclaimed, pointing to the beach where a weird looking man was stumbling about talking to himself. "They're all seriously dumb." He muttered.

"Well, you're just going to have to deal with it." Lucas told him, ignoring all the people who were staring at them meanly as they insulted their town.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Cassie came storming across the road, screaming at them before she was even close to them. Lucas and Ryder stopped walking and just stared as Cassie marched towards them, screaming her head off.

"Oh for God's sake, not again" Lucas muttered to Ryder as Cassie finally reached them.

"Hey Cassie," Ryder tried to greet her nicely, but she ignored them.

"What the hell are you doing here? Why are you just walking round town after I've found out what you've done? You're acting as if nothing's happened. I told you to go! Why are you still here? I can barely look at you; you murdered my mother for no reason! Then you tried to be friendly and nice to me. My mom was the only real family I had and you took her away from me. You killed her! You're acting as if nothing's happened. Strolling round town like a pair of posh, pompous idiots! I feel like ripping your heads off right now." Cassie ranted, shouting at them.

"Cassie, please shut up. We're in a public place, you can't do magic to harm us and you know it. We have already told you, we didn't bloody murder your mom! We didn't even know you existed until we got summoned here, and that was ages after your mom had died! You're being stupid, go home and calm down. But stop accusing us of something we haven't done." Lucas ordered her.

"No, I'm not listening to you, you're lying. You're always lying, I know you did it." Cassie told them angrily.

"Cassie, we didn't." Ryder told her, hoping she'd believe him.

"I don't believe you." Cassie told them, starting to have to fight back her tears.

"Cassie, just go home. We're in a public place and everyone's staring at you. There's no way we could have killed your mom, why can't you stop being so stupid and realize that? I'm not sticking round here to listen to this. You're being stupid. Come on Ryder, we're going." Lucas told them.

Then Lucas and Ryder turned round and quickly left, walking away from Cassie, who stood in the middle of the street staring at them as they left. She wanted to shout at them, get them to come back, she hadn't finished with them! For some reason though, she just couldn't bring herself to. Cassie quickly turned round and left, ignoring everyone who was staring at her. She tried to calm herself down as she walked away and ignored the nagging in her brain which was telling her maybe, just maybe, Lucas and Ryder were telling the truth.

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Claire and Dylan were sitting in the coffee shop in town chatting when Claire noticed Melissa come through the door and she quickly jumped up and made Melissa come and join them.

"Hey guys," Melissa said as she sat down with them, coffee in hand.

"Hi Melissa, how've you been?" Dylan asked her.

"I've been really good, actually. I don't think I've told you yet, but I found out from my dad the other week that my bloodline goes back through an ancient powerful witch family, the Nidaros family. My dad was part of their family; this means I have a lot more magic and power then I realized. It's great! My dad is helping me learn how to control and use my Nidaros magic." Melissa explained to them.

"Oh Melissa, that's great! I'm so happy for you." Claire told her. Dylan nodded in agreement.

"Yeah that's really good," he added.

"Thanks guys, and how have you been lately?" Melissa asked.

"We've been great; we're no longer being bossed about by Lucas and Ryder. We have so much more freedom now, it's brilliant." Claire told her.

"Oh that's good, I always hated the way Lucas and Ryder forced you into things you didn't want to do." Melissa said.

"Yeah, so did I, I'm enjoying life a lot more now." Claire explained.

"Yeah, so am I." Dylan agreed.

"This is great, we're all really happy and everything is going right in our lives for once." Melissa realized.

"Yeah, that must be a first." Dylan added sarcastically.

"It's good, we all deserve it." Claire told them. "We've been through a lot."

"So what are you guys doing today?" Melissa asked.

"Anything! We haven't decided yet, but we can do anything we want. That's such a good feeling." Claire told her.

"I bet it is! I'm really happy for you guys. You may still live with Lucas and Ryder, but at least you have some more control over you own lives now." She told them.

"Yeah, and Lucas and Ryder are our brothers, they're not actually that bad. Not all the time." Dylan told her.

"I'm sure they can be okay." Melissa agreed.

"Oh, I've just had a great idea!" Claire told them excitedly.

"Oh God, what is it?" Dylan asked, slightly worried.

"We should all go out and celebrate later. It'll be fun." Claire suggested.

"Celebrate how?" Dylan asked, still not sure about this idea.

"It's a surprise." Claire whispered, smiling at him.

"Oh God, I don't know. What do you think Melissa?" He asked.

"I think that sounds like fun. We should go out later." She agreed, looking forward to it. "But for now, how about I go and get some more coffees?" She suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds good to me." Dylan agreed.

"I'll come and help you." Claire told her smiling. Melissa got up with her and the two of them walked to the coffee counter, gossiping about how good life was at the minute. Dylan stayed seated at the table, relaxing and happy at his new freedom away from his controlling older brothers.

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Diana was pacing up and down nervously, waiting for Cassie to come back. She could hardly stand still; she was so scared about what would happen when she came clean with Cassie. She really hoped Cassie would understand why she'd kept it a secret and forgive her.

After a while, Diana decided she needed some advice from someone because she was driving herself crazy, waiting and worrying. Diana wasn't sure who she should call; would understand? Then finally someone popped into her head: Faye. She'd been through things like this; she'd understand and help hopefully, if she was in a good mood.

Diana nervously dialled Faye's number, praying she'd pick up.

"Hello?" Faye answered, already sounding bored.

"Faye! It's Diana. I need your help with something," Diana told her, starting to regret going to Faye.

"You need my help? What, your princess sister isn't good enough?" Faye asked sarcastically.

"It's actually about Cassie." Diana admitted, biting her nails. She was that nervous.

"About Cassie, I hardly have anything to do with her. What's this got to do with me?" Faye asked.

"Nothing really, I just need some advice." Diana told her.

"Fine then, shoot." Faye told her.

"Well...the thing is, I well I..." Diana started, unsure of how to say it.

"Just spit it out." Faye told her, sounding annoyed.

"Okay then. Well the thing is there's something I've been keeping from Cassie because I don't want to hurt her. But now I really need to tell her and I'm scared of what will happen" Diana muttered.

"Does it have to do with Cassie?" Faye asked, intrigued.

"Yeah, it's a pretty big secret." Diana told her.

"Ooh, what is it?"Faye asked, wanting some gossip on Cassie.

"Faye, I'm not going to tell you. God, I don't even know why I called you for help." Diana sighed.

"Okay, sorry. Listen, whatever it is, just tell her. Letting some big, awful secret come between the two of you is worse than you actually coming clean and telling her the truth, however upset she gets." Faye told her sincerely.

"Wow, thanks Faye, you're right. I'll tell her when she comes home." Diana whispered.

"Of course I'm right! Its okay, I have nothing better to do right now. Bye Diana." Faye replied, before hanging up and cutting Diana's goodbye off.

Faye sighed as she threw her phone back down on her bed. After what she'd told Diana to do, Faye wondered if she should come clean to Adam as well. She wasn't sure what would happen if she confessed to him that Balcoin scared her. What if he tells Balcoin? Surely he wouldn't do that. Just to be safe, Faye decided to ignore her own advice and keep her fears to herself, for now. Instead of calling Adam, Faye got up and decided to take a bath, hoping to clear her head and relax.

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Melissa just finished washing her hands when she started hearing a shouted argument. She closed the bathroom door and saw Cassie fighting with Claire and Dylan.

"TELL THE TRUTH!" Cassie yelled.

"We didn't do it," Claire said, flinching.

"STOP LYING OR SO HELP ME I'LL-!"

Cassie stopped mid-sentence as she jumped back as if someone punched her in the gut. She looked back and saw Melissa glaring at her.

"Just what the hell are you doing?" Melissa demanded.

"Trying to get the truth out of them," Cassie replied, scowling. "This isn't your business."

That got Melissa mad. Of course it's her business if Cassie is threatening her friends under her care. Smirking inwardly, she released her magic in a flash of power only witches can sense, just like her dad taught her.  
Cassie gasped as she sensed the intense might coming from her like a golden aura.

"You need to clear your head and think clearly," Melissa declared. "But first, you are leaving us alone right now. You are acting like Faye on her worst bitchy days, and they couldn't have had anything to do with your mom's death, so go away, or I will make you."

Cassie stared at Melissa in disbelief, but when she realized she wasn't bluffing, she just scowled at her younger siblings and left.

Claire stared at Melissa in awe. "That was awesome; you are finally standing up for yourself!" She said grinning.

Dylan just nodded.

Melissa didn't like fighting with Cassie but she couldn't help but feel proud of herself.

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Cassie walked into the house planning on going right to her room. Her confrontation of the Balcoins hadn't gone as planned as she didn't get any information. "Cassie," she heard her sister's voice and saw Diana sitting in the living room. "We need to talk."

"I don't feel like talking. I'm going to bed," Cassie said.

"Cassie, we need to talk now." By the tone of Diana's voice Cassie got she didn't have a choice. There was something Diana needed to tell her. Cassie sat down, waiting for Diana to start. "Cassie, you can't go off on our siblings because they didn't do anything."

"One of them…." Cassie started, but Diana held up her hand to stop her.

"Let me finish. They didn't do anything because it was…" Diana stopped having trouble knowing exactly what to say, but as she paused her mental shields went down. As the memory of the night she found out about her dad came to her mind, Cassie saw the memory. She saw Charles admit killing her mom to Diana.

After it was done Diana knew Cassie saw it. She hadn't meant for Cassie to find out that way. "Cas…" Diana never got to finish as she found herself lifted up by magic and thrown across the room. As she got up, she saw an enraged Cassie. "Cassie, let me explain."

"YOU KNEW," Cassie yelled tears coming to my eyes. "You knew and you didn't tell me!"

"I was going to…" Diana started.

"You're my sister. You're the only family I have left, and you kept this from me. She was my mom. My entire life I was so close to her…."

"He was my dad. He raised me. I was going to tell you Cassie. I really was, but then he died saving us. I couldn't." Diana said. "They're both dead. They're all dead. My dad, your mom, my mom, our dad. They all died. All we have left is each other. I protected my dad's memory once and it was wrong, but please don't let this get between us. You're my sister, Cassie. I love you."

"Get out," Cassie yelled opening the front door with magic. "Get out of my house."

Diana had tears in her eyes. "Do you want me to move out?"

"Yes… no….um… I don't know," Cassie said. "I just can't look at you for a few days. Out."

Diana moved toward the door, not too sure where she was going to go. "I hope you can forgive me." Cassie didn't say anything as Diana left.

She spent a while pacing the living room, not sure what to do. As she kept thinking about everything, she got angrier that Diana hadn't told her. More tears came to her eyes and she couldn't be alone. She stormed out of the house and went next door.

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Jake was lying in his bed nearly fast asleep when he was woken up by the sound of his door crashing opened. Jake jumped up expecting it to be someone attacking him like his former witch hunter friends or the other Balcoin children or something. Instead he saw Cassie standing in his room eyes red from crying and yelling something about Diana and her mom so fast he couldn't keep up with what she was saying.

Jake rubbed his eyes as he sat up. "Can you believe she knew? All this time she knew. My mom," Cassie threw herself at Jake crying into his shoulder at this. "I can't believe Diana."

Putting his arms around his crying girlfriend Jake said: "Diana did what?"

"Haven't you been listening?" Cassie said.

"I was trying to, but you made it a little impossible. What's wrong?" Jake asked.

"Charles Meade killed my mom," Cassie stated after a minute, shocking Jake. "He killed my mom and Diana knew about it. She found out a long time ago and never told me."

"I'm sorry," Jake said, not knowing what else to say as he let Cassie cry on him. "Look Cassie, what Diana did was bad, but she didn't kill your mom. The two of you will be fine."

"I don't even know if I can look at her right now," Cassie said.

"Then don't. You can stay right here with me all night." Jake whispered lying down on the bed. Cassie laid down next to him and snuggled up next to him.

"Thank you, Jake," Cassie mumbled, not bothering to mention she sent Diana out of her house. She liked spending the night at Jake's anyway.

"Not a problem," Jake said as he held her close to him and put the covers on over the both of them. The two drifted off to sleep not long after.

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Faye had been sitting on her couch flicking through the TV channels when there was a knock on the door. She paused for a second and considered not opening the door. But hearing another knock she rolled her eyes and unravelled herself from her curled up position and made her way to the door.

As she made her way to the door she was bracing herself for the worst possible situations. It could be Balcoin, but then he didn't use doors. Then it could have been Adam and that was just as bad nowadays. Adam was the only person she could be around after everything that had happened over the past few weeks, but now she wasn't so sure she could spend time around Adam. Faye was sick of the arguing. She just didn't have the energy anymore, she just felt so drained all the time and the only explanation was the arguments.

But then it could be anyone from the Circle, which would also be pretty bad. Jake and Cassie hated her and she was pretty sure Melissa also hated her and she was too busy being an all powerful witch to come visit Faye. Then there was Diana. She had been okay with Faye after the fashion show and as far as Faye knew she hadn't spilled the beans about things being bad between her and Adam to the rest of the Circle.

As she opened the door she got prepared to argue with someone. Then she saw a crying Diana on her porch.

"Diana, what the hell?" Faye asked.

"I'm not really sure." Diana admitted, "I mean I thought it would have been weird to go to Adam's first and I don't want to really disturb Melissa because she is having family time and Cassie would have gone to Jake and why would I go see Jake anyway-"Diana rambled.

"Okay do you want to speak some sense?" Faye questioned, having no idea what Diana was on about.

Diana took a deep breath before starting to explain, "You know when I called you earlier and asked all those hypothetical questions..."

"So you told Cassie?" Faye said her eyebrow raised.

"How did yo-"Diana started but Faye cut her off.

"You really can't lie to save your life; I knew you were keeping something from Cassie as soon as you started asking questions. I see more than people think I do."

"Well, she kicked me out." Diana said quietly.

"Wait, What?" Faye asked, truly shocked. What could Diana have told Cassie that would make her do this? "Diana..." Faye started, but Diana shook her head.

"Look I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come here. Adam is probably waiting for you so I'll see you later." Diana said with a weak smile before turning to leave.

"Diana!" Faye said and followed her down the steps. "Just come inside, okay?" Faye said. "We can talk...or not." she added as she saw the worried look on Diana's face. "Look, I'm sure my mom will be fine with you staying here. She'll probably be ecstatic that I'm not spending time with Adam." Faye told her causing Diana to smile.

"Okay," Diana agreed walking up the steps with Faye. Once they got to the top Diana paused. "Thanks." She said quietly and Faye simply nodded before following Diana inside and closing the door.

Once inside they both headed to the living room and Diana curled up on the couch, Faye had no idea what to do. She never really had to deal with Diana like this. Diana always went to Cassie, Melissa, or Adam, and now it was Faye's turn to be the one to make it all better, but what if she couldn't?

Faye sat down on the couch next to Diana. "So..." She started, not sure where to go with the conversation.

"I thought telling the truth would make everything better," Diana told her quietly. "I thought it would stop all the arguing and the accusations and stop everyone from fighting."

"Diana..."

"I was sick of hiding it; it was taking so much out of me. I don't even know how or why I kept it a secret this long. The longer I kept the secret, the bigger the lie became. I mean she didn't even suspect me..."

"Wait a minute, are you saying what I think you're saying?" Faye asked, a little shell shocked. If Diana was really saying what Faye was assuming then Diana was not the person they all thought she was.

"And what do you think I'm saying, Faye?" Diana asked, finally looking up at her.

"I don't..."

"My dad, Charles, killed Cassie's mom," Diana said, and Faye's eyes widened. Faye would have never thought Charles would have had it in him, she had always assumed that Diana got her good girl attitude from him, but obviously you never know people as well as you think.

"When did you find out?" Faye asked her quietly. She was curious; who wouldn't be? But she knew this was a touchy subject for Diana, especially after telling Cassie and getting the worst reaction she could.

"Uh, after prom. Cassie and I had a bit of an argument about Blackwell and the crystals and I basically ran home. He was on the floor curled up and mumbling about not meaning to do it, he thought I knew what he did so he admitted that it was wrong and I just panicked and left. And then that creepy guy brought it up and I saw the others getting upset and frustrated because they knew nothing about Cassie's mom and Cassie was upset all the time and I couldn't stand it!"

"You did the right thing." Faye told her, trying to make Diana feel better.

"But did I? I could have told her a long time ago and I kept it in to protect him, but now it's ruined my relationship with Cassie and she is all I have." Diana said starting to cry and Faye wrapped her arms around the other girl.

"Look, you were right before; the longer you kept it a secret the bigger the lies got." When Diana started muttering about being a bad sister, Faye sighed, "Listen to me Diana, you needed time to process this and find a way to tell her. It was a shock for you too. When you find out someone isn't the person you thought, it throws you, and on top of all that we had the witch hunters, the skull, and Blackwell around us. Anyone would have cracked under all that pressure. And seriously, did Cassie expect you to slip it into a Circle meeting, 'Oh and I just thought I would let everyone know Cassie's mother's death wasn't an accident it was the man I thought was my father for 17 years'. I mean seriously that girl needs a reality check."

"That's not funny, Faye" Diana told her wiping her eyes and smiling.

"It kinda is, and anyway it made you smile so it had to have some comic effect." Faye said with a shrug.

"Do you really think it was the right time?" Diana asked.

"I don't think there is ever a good time to tell anyone anything like that." Faye said, thinking back to her situation. What Diana had been keeping from Cassie was big, but wasn't it a big thing that she didn't trust Balcoin? Plus, she was honestly petrified of Adam and Balcoin. When was the right time to tell someone that you were scared of them? And that you were thinking of leaving them?

"What are you thinking?" Diana asked, "Do you think I'm the worst person, too?"

Faye shook her head, "No, of course not." Faye said then sighed, "I was just thinking about what you said; the longer you keep the secret the bigger the lie."

"Keeping a big secret, are we?" Diana teased, obviously feeling better now that she had gotten everything off of her chest.

"What?! No, it's just a good way to look at things, that's all." Faye said, trying to shrug off the matter. "I'm starving, want to help me make some food? I might even share some with you." She said getting up.

Diana nodded, taking a breath. "Sure, let's do it," she said, also standing up and following Faye into the kitchen.

**Anon review replies:**

**Luz: Glad to hear it! :) hope that you enjoyed this chapter**

**Eva: So sorry for the long delay, but the hurricane hit some of our writers and they didn't have power. Still, the chapter's here now, and I hope you liked it!**

**Tina: Yeah, we've been trying to give her a bigger part and as much power as everyone else :) **

**Guest: We got a new editor, hopefully the spelling is better now.**

**Olivia: Thank you! And sorry for the long wait for the chapter. Like I mentioned above, some writers were hit by the hurricane and lost power, so we couldn't get the chapter out. I think that was explained on facebook and twitter. You can always go to those two places for updates :)**

**Stephanie: Thanks, and it's great that there weren't any spelling errors! **


	18. Choices

**ATTENTION (SERIOUSLY, read it please): Since school has started for all the writers, we'll be updating every other week instead of every week. Sorry about that :(**

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**Plotline writers – Forcystus5, flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B**

**Writers –, Forcystus5, CharmedMilliE, ilove2dance, witch-witha-B, TtylerMaria**

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**ANON REVIEW REPLIES at the end.**

**Disclaimer: We don't own The Secret Circle**

Episode 18 – "Choices"

Diana attempted to roll over in bed but found her way blocked by another body. Not being fully awake, she assumed it was Cassie.

"Cassie, move over." She mumbled, hoping to get more sleep. She was exhausted and had no idea why.

When she felt no movement from the body beside her, she nudged the body with her foot and heard an unfamiliar voice.

"Why are you kicking me?" Faye groaned, throwing her arm over her eyes to block out the sunlight and go back to sleep. She didn't care what time it was even though the sun was up. Her body was telling her it was too early.

Confused, Diana finally managed to move around and roll over to face the other witch. She was about to say something when her mind caught up to her body.

"Oh god," Diana moaned as the events of the day before flashed in her mind. She told Cassie, she told Cassie everything and now her sister who was her only family hated her guts and would never talk to her again!

"Don't worry, you didn't kiss me again," Faye teased as she peaked out from under her arm at Diana. Receiving nothing but a glare, Faye simply rolled her eyes. "What?"

"I'm a horrible person." Diana stated, staring up at the ceiling.

"Is this one of those things like when you ask someone if you're fat, just so you can hear them tell you that you aren't fat?" Faye asked. "Cause you aren't a horrible person, or fat. And now that I have done my good deed of the day, I am going to go back to sleep." She told Diana, who just gave her a disbelieving look. Then again, Diana shouldn't be surprised; it is Faye.

Letting out a quiet sigh, Diana slipped out from under the covers and stood up. There was no way she was going to get any sleep at all with her mind on overdrive thinking about Cassie. Diana was about to leave the room when she heard Faye.

"What are you doing?" She asked, moving her arm to look at Diana. Diana simply shrugged.

"I'm not sure, I was thinking I would take a walk or something."

"Seriously?" Faye asked, sitting up now. "Diana, it's not even 8 a.m. and it is the weekend. Unless there is Circle drama, we are having a lazy day."

"I need to think, Faye." Diana said, feeling like things were coming at her from all sides. She had so much to think about and sort through.

She had to try and fix things with Cassie. It wasn't going to be easy, but she needed to try. She was not about to lose her sister. Then she had to find her other siblings, explain things to them, and hope that they weren't angry with her for keeping it a secret. Diana had been the reason that Cassie had been bugging them for the last week, and even though they weren't all close, she hoped they wouldn't be mad at her. And then the rest of The Circle had to be told what had happened. She assumed Jake already knew and Faye would probably let Adam know, so it wasn't too bad if she only had to tell Melissa.

And if Cassie didn't forgive her, then she would have to sort something out and find somewhere to live, some way to get her things from Cassie's. Everything was just building up around her and backing her into a corner and she couldn't stand it.

When she felt a hand on her arm she jumped slightly before realising that it was Faye, who looked unusually concerned.

"You okay?" Faye asked for the third time, but this time Diana seemed like she was actually listening.

"Uh, yeah I'm okay," Diana told her with a small smile. "Sorry I snapped at you."

Faye shrugged and said, "It's fine, I'm kind of used to people biting my head off." She brushed it off even though it was nice to have someone apologize to her.

"So normally I don't do the whole caring thing, but would you do me a favour and sit down?" Faye asked and received a weird look from Diana. "Well you look like you are gonna faint on me and I have no idea what to do if you do faint so...bed." She pointed over to the bed.

Diana simply nodded and moved to sit on the bed, Faye close behind. Diana sat on the bed staring into space, while Faye curled up in her covers and watched Diana.

She may have seemed like she was staring into space, but really Diana was trying to contact Cassie through the link. Every time she failed to get a connection to Cassie she blamed it on her mind and the fact she was mentally exhausted after everything that had happened, making her mind just not strong enough. But after around 10 minutes of trying, Diana finally gave it up as a lost cause.

Not knowing what to do now, Diana moved to slip herself back under the covers. If she could get back to sleep then maybe it wouldn't hurt as much.

"You okay?" Faye asked and Diana smiled slightly.

"How many times have you asked me that?" She replied, trying to avoid the question. But Faye wasn't having any of it.

"You didn't answer my question."

"Cassie is blocking me out." Diana said simply and Faye nodded, knowing not to push.

"Duvet day?" Faye asked and received a small smile from Diana.

Getting back up Faye threw a sweatshirt on and went through her DVD collection. Diana frowned as she looked at what Faye was wearing, but didn't question it as she listened to Faye reel off a list of DVDs.

Finally picking one, Faye put it in her DVD player and pressed play. Slipping back under the covers she gave Diana a smile as the girl rested her head on her shoulder and started watching the film.

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Cassie woke up and looked over at Jake, who was still asleep. His arms were still around Cassie and she couldn't bring herself to move or wake him yet. It was still early anyway. As Cassie snuggled closer to Jake to get back to sleep, she accidently let her mental block down and suddenly felt a rush of sorrow flood her mind. It was coming from Diana and it was so bad that Cassie almost found herself crying.

Then random thoughts entered Cassie's mind. _I should have told her. I was so afraid of losing her. Now I lost her because I didn't tell her._ There was more, but Cassie found herself needing to block Diana out.

_She wanted to tell me,_ Cassie thought to herself. Now that the anger from last night has lessened, Cassie was able to think clearly. She loved her sister and maybe she had overreacted a bit. Charles was dead after all. Finally deciding on what she was going to do, Cassie put down her mental block.

_Diana, _Cassie thought to her sister and felt her sister's shock from hearing Cassie. _Meet me at the Boathouse so we can talk._

_Be right there,_ Diana thought back before Cassie put the mental block back up.

Cassie slowly moved Jake's arm and got out of the bed, making sure not to wake her boyfriend. She kissed his forehead and walked out of the room before she left him sleeping there..

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Diana and Faye were waiting at a table in the Boathouse. Diana had run out of the house right away and Faye decided to go with her just in case. Cassie walked in, but before she could reach the table, Faye got up and stopped her. "You better not hurt her Blake, because if you got her excited just to bring her here and yell at her again, I swear I'll kill you."

Cassie could think of a million come backs to that one, but that would start Cassie and Faye off on one of their little fights again, so Cassie decided not to. Instead, she pushed past Faye and went to her sister. "I'm sorry," both Diana and Cassie said at the same time. "I shouldn't have-wait you first."

The two looked at each other as they said the exact same thing. Diana took Cassie's hands. "Me first," Diana said. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kept it a secret for so long. I just didn't know how to tell you and I didn't want to lose you. I knew you would be upset and I figured if you never knew, it would never matter. It was wrong of me though. Please forgive me."

"I'm sorry too," Cassie said. "I overreacted. You didn't kill my mom and I know now that you wanted to tell me. I just got so angry last night I couldn't see past the fact that you didn't tell me. Do you forgive me?"

"Of course. Do you forgive me?" Diana asked.

"Of course, and you're welcome back into my house. I want you to live with me." Cassie said and hugged her sister. Diana returned the hug. After they released the embrace, Cassie saw Lucas, Ryder, Claire, and Dylan walk in. "Lucas, Ryder, Claire, Dylan." She called and the four turned around.

They slowly walked over. "Should we be afraid?" Ryder asked.

"No. I found out who killed my mom and everything is good now. I'm sorry I went off on you. It's just that my mom was everything to me, and the thought that one of you killed her was too much. Forgive me?"

Dylan and Claire looked at each other. "We probably would have done the same thing," Claire said and then the two hugged Cassie. Cassie put her arms around them to return the hug and Diana joined in.

"Come on Ryder, Lucas," Diana said.

The two boys looked at each other. "I can't believe we're becoming the group hug type of family," Lucas mumbled before he and Ryder joined in the hug.

Just then, Jake came running in looking frantic and still wearing his pajamas bottoms and a shirt he had thrown on. He paused a minute when he noticed all the Balcoins hugging each other. "Um… Cassie what just happened?" Jake asked, as the six broke apart. Ryder and Lucas had a weird look on their faces.

"I came to apologize to Diana and ended up apologizing to all my siblings. We're all good now, right?" Cassie said, and everyone nodded. "What are you doing here?"

"I got worried when I woke up and you weren't there." Jake said.

"Aw, that was sweet," Cassie said, going over to Jake to kiss him. "I'm fine, but thanks for your concern."

"I'm glad you guys worked everything out," Jake said.

Faye had been standing by watching everything silently, growing a bit disgusted as everything continued. "You're all weird. I'm going to go have some fun." Faye said as she walked to the door.

"Should we be worried? The last time she went to have fun she caused chaos at the fashion show," Cassie said, and everyone turned to look at Faye walking through the door.

"She really isn't that bad, worry about her later. Right now let's all have breakfast together," Diana said and they all sat down to have breakfast.

As Faye walked out, a very familiar face was waiting for her. "What do you want, Balcoin?" Faye hissed. She was starting to like it better when he was a skull. Sure he was far better looking now, but he was much less annoying as a skull.

"What happened in there?" Balcoin asked.

"Well, short version: Cassie found out Diana's father killed her mother. They fought for a bit and now they made up and all six siblings are closer than ever now. I guess your plan failed," Faye said with a bit of a smirk.

Balcoin nodded. "Apparently it did. I was so sure that would drive them apart, but oh well. Even the best-made plans sometimes fail. Just got to make another."

"Just don't hurt them," Faye said, but was too late. Balcoin had already disappeared. Faye rolled her eyes. She was seriously getting sick of that guy. She walked away.

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Melissa was alternating her reading time on her bed. She had the Glaser Book of Shadows in her right hand and the Nidaros one in her left hand. Originally, she planned to hang out with the twins, but it seemed that Dylan was flunking history class so Claire was helping him in the school library. So she decided to see if she could learn more cool spells.

Her dad gave her the Nidaros Book of Shadows the night she unlocked her magical powers. The differences between the two family books were apparent immediately. For starters, the Glaser family book's spells seem to be designed mainly for healing and using nature as a weapon. She realized this when she read a long chapter which concentrated on altering the environment around you, both in the climatic sense and when it came to plants. She read an entry that explained how to accelerate the growth of plants and then use the branches to hit people and use the roots to tie their feet. The book also taught her how to make several potions with different effects, but they were mainly about healing.

The Nidaros Book of Shadows, on the other hand, was far different. Melissa was struggling to understand it because the book not only contained magical lessons, but a whole chapter dedicated to a philosophical code that the Nidaros witches seem to have started many centuries ago. And that caused some mixed reactions from Melissa, because she realized the ethical views she grew up with were somewhat different from those of her ancestors.

There were several points in the code, but there seemed to be one key factor present everywhere: because the witches from the Nidaros bloodline were among the most powerful there were, they had to learn to control themselves so they do not submit to evil. However, it was the method her ancestors frequently used that made her frown. The philosophy of the code clearly stated that rejecting the darkness completely was stupid and pointless because everyone has their own darkness, and that people with immense power like them are likely candidates to fall for it. The code states that the main problem with having nothing to do with dark magic was that everyone at some point in their lives will feel intense grief and anger, and those are the decisive moments where the person could lash out with magic in retaliation.

In other words, it explained that as good as light magic may be, it's prone to become corrupted under times of great stress because when blind anger becomes the dominant emotion, the witch wouldn't know how to control it if they had spent their whole lives rejecting their darkness. So, the code explained that in order to control her emotions when anger takes hold, Melissa had to accept her own darkness and channel its negative aspects into something constructive. It stated that only then will she have what it takes to combine light and dark magic without becoming evil; to become a grey witch.

Melissa couldn't stop pondering on her family's code. Should she agree with it? Could it be too dangerous? How should she start? Suddenly, her dad opened the door and entered.

"Hello, Melissa," Patrick smiled. "Enjoying a little light reading?"

Melissa frowned. "Dad, do you agree with the Nidaros family code?" She asked.

Patrick's smile vanished and he stared at her. "So, you unlocked that chapter."

"What?" Melissa asked, confused.

"Well, centuries ago, the Elder of the Nidaros Family of that era made a spell on the Book of Shadows so that unprepared witches couldn't read more than they were prepared to learn," Patrick explained. "As I am sure you have noticed, the spells you can see right now are resourceful, but they aren't exactly a big deal compared to others. The really powerful spells are hidden."

"Then how am I supposed to advance?" Melissa complained.

"By living by the Nidaros code," Patrick said shrugging. "The more you believe what the code entails and the more you control the darkness, the more pages will appear. The strongest spells may be incredible, but they can be corruptive to the user because they combine light and dark magic, as well as their emotions, and thus, the system was designed to prepare the next generation so they don't get more on their plate than they can handle."

Melissa looked down at the book. Ever since the other half of her powers were unlocked she had felt great, and she wanted to feel even better. She still wasn't entirely sure what to make of all the points of the code, but she wasn't just going to give up. She could give the whole accepting the darkness a trial run at least.

"As for my opinion on the code," Patrick continued, "I can certainly say most of the points make sense from a logical perspective, but I wouldn't take them as seriously as a fanatic might."

Melissa nodded but didn't say anything as her cell phone rang. She looked at the text and was mildly surprised Faye wanted to hang out with her, but she smiled and text her back saying yes.

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Jake and Cassie were walking down the street, hand in hand. Diana walked next to them, chatting away.

"What should we do? I'm bored," moaned Cassie.

"I know what I'd love to do with you," Jake whispered in her ear, making Cassie go bright red.

_Seriously can you guys give it a break? I'm feeling kind of sick over here. _Cassie heard Diana say in her head, and immediately felt even worse when she realised her sister had just seen all the mental images that had come into her head.

_Sorry!_ Cassie thought back, before setting up her mental block in case Jake did anything else.

"You two alright, you've gone quiet?" Jake asked.

"Oh yeah sorry, we were just having a quick private conversation." Diana told him, smirking at Cassie.

"Of course, you'd think I'd be used to that by now." Jake sighed.

"We're finished now," Cassie told him quickly.

"Okay then." He answered, giving her a weird look. She was acting kind of strange.

"What do you guys want to do?" Diana asked.

"I'm not sure, there's nothing to do in Chance Harbour," Cassie moaned. "Is everyone else busy?" she asked.

"I think so, Melissa's not answering her phone, and neither's anyone else really." Diana told her.

"Great! Looks like it just the three of us then." Jake said.

"Yep, hey why don't we go to the movies?" Cassie suggested.

"I'm not going to watch a chick flick with the two of you," Jake moaned, "And I'm definitely not watching that new Twilight film Ugh, the thought makes me feel sick," He told them, looking grossed out.

"Awww, is Jake scared of the nice little vampires?" Cassie asked him in a silly voice, making Diana laugh.

"No," he replied quickly.

Diana and Cassie refused to believe him, and wouldn't stop teasing him about it.

"Shut up! I'm hungry, can we just go and get a snack?" Jake asked.

"Okay then, do you just want to go the store and get something?" Cassie asked,

"Sure." Jake agreed.

"Oh that's good, we really need to pick up some food," Diana added.

The three of them crossed the road and were just about to go in when Diana stopped in her tracks. A look of shock came across her face and she yanked Cassie and Jake in front of the next shop along.

"Hey what are –?

"Shhh!" Diana interrupted. Cassie quickly put down her mental block, hoping to find out what was wrong.

"It's my grandma, in the shop." Diana whispered to Jake at the exact time Cassie was met with the image Diana had seen of Kate shopping.

_What are we going to do?_ Diana asked her mentally.

_Don't let her see us, we'll follow her and see where she goes._

_What is she doing back here, why now?_

_It's alright Diana; everything's going to be fine._

Cassie carried on mentally reassuring her sister; whilst Jake sneaked his head back round so he could see into the food shop.

"She's just paying," Jake whispered, "Are we going to follow her when she leaves?" Jake asked.

"Yeah," Cassie told him just as Kate came out the shop.

They watched as she crossed the road with her purchase and started walking down the street back towards the middle of town.

Jake, Cassie, and Diana all slowly followed her, keeping really quiet. Instead of talking, Cassie and Diana just used their mental link and let Jake be in charge. He knew what he was doing more than they did.

Eventually Kate led them to a motel where she must be staying. It was also the motel where the other Blackwell siblings were staying. Cassie left Diana and Jake hiding behind a car and followed Kate to find out what room she was staying in. Once Kate had gone in her room Cassie ran back to Diana and Jake.

"She's in room 17." Cassie told them.

"What is she doing here?" Diana asked, starting to panic.

"I don't know, but we'll find out." Jake reassured them. What the hell was Kate doing back in Chance Harbour?

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"Adam, my friend." Was the first thing that Balcoin said as he appeared in the back room, scaring Adam half to death. The young witch turned to face the demon and gave a short nod in his direction. Adam had been rushing around at the Boathouse. His father had disappeared, but Adam wasn't as worried about that as he would have been a few months ago.

"I need to have a little word with you about a certain witch." Balcoin told Adam, sitting down and making himself comfortable waiting for Adam to join him.

Adam closed the door with his magic but did not sit down. "Which witch?" Adam asked, causing Balcoin to chuckle.

"Amazing word play," He said before his face straightened "I am of course talking about our dear Miss Chamberlain."

"What has she been saying now?" Adam asked wondering if Faye had taken her concerns to anyone else in the Circle.

"Nothing, really. What has she been saying to you, Adam?" Balcoin asked, curious as to what Adam and Faye had been discussing.

"Nothing much," Adam said, but his shifty look did not go unnoticed by Balcoin.

"Adam..."

"Faye is...concerned about your agenda and the effect it would have on all the members of the Circle," Adam said, not explaining everything Faye had said to him. There was a part of him saying he should tell Balcoin everything, but then there was a struggling voice at the back of his mind telling him he cared about Faye. If he told Balcoin everything, Faye may get in trouble. It seemed that the small voice was winning. Adam wasn't heartless, after all.

"Ahhhhh," Balcoin replied, his face thoughtful, "and what does she think should be done about the situation?"

"She believes we should be cautious around you," Adam said, "I see her point, we have all lost a lot because of magic and the things we don't know." He said, somewhat defending Faye. And Faye was right that they had been burned before by the people they trusted.

"I guess that is understandable," Balcoin agreed. After all, he did know everything the Circle had been through. He had been there the whole time. "but I cannot have Faye interfering with my plans again."

"Wait, what plans did she interfere with?" Adam asked, confused. Since their last little spat, Faye had been avoiding him.

"Faye seems to be spending a lot more time around Diana. She seemed to be involved with Diana and Cassie making up."

"Wait, Diana and Cassie were fighting?" Adam asked, shocked.

"You are more out of the loop than you thought," Balcoin said. His visit had an ulterior motive. Balcoin wanted to see how much Adam actually knew and if Faye was getting to him. At first, Balcoin had been torn to which out of the two would be the issue in his plan. But Adam seemed more loyal than Faye right now, so he had to work on Adam, who would work on Faye and then the rest of the Circle. He needed as many witches on his side as possible, seeing as he couldn't turn them against each other.

"What happened?" Adam asked slightly angrily. This was exactly the reason he needed Balcoin. He wasn't going to be the useless one with no power who was left out of everything anymore.

"Diana informed Cassie that Charles Meade was the one to murder Cassie's mother," Balcoin said simply before pausing and letting the information sink in. "It seems that Faye took Diana in last night and the two have been spending quality time. Faye also seemed rather pleased that I could not break the bond between the Blackwell siblings like I had planned. I fear she may be turning against us, Adam, as by the sounds of it she is not informing you of what is going on in her life."

"We had a fight." Adam said thoughtfully. Maybe Faye was avoiding him. He had been too busy to even notice.

"No matter," Balcoin told Adam as he stood up. "We all know Faye will stay where the most power is. If she didn't, she would have left you by now."

And with that he was gone. Adam frowned as he pulled out his cell and called Faye's number, he wanted answers. When the phone went to voicemail, Adam swore under his breath and threw his cell onto the couch before heading back out of the door.

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"I don't understand," Dylan said blankly.

Claire rolled her eyes. "You don't understand that the Egyptian Empire was the first true civilization in the history of mankind?"

"Of course I do!" Dylan pouted. "What I don't understand is why 3000 years of pharaonic rule ended up with Cleopatra's death."

Before Claire could answer, they heard footsteps approaching and when they turned around they saw Mr. Sanders.

"Oh, hi," Claire said nervously.

"Need a hand with an history assignment?" He asked them.

"No," Claire said while Dylan said yes at the same time.

Claire glared at her brother while he raised his hands in surrender. "He could help!" He stated to defend himself from his sister's wrath.

"I am helping you," she growled.

"But I don't understand your help," he said and then hide behind a chair when Claire threw a book at him.

"Hey, take it easy," Mr. Sanders said, starting to get worried. "I just want to help."

Claire narrowed her eyes. "I thought you were a Folklore teacher, not a history one."

"Fair enough," He said, nodding. "However, I also have a degree in archaeology and I had to study a lot of history in that career."

Claire sighed. "Fine, maybe you will actually manage to get something into my thick headed brother."

"Hey, I resent that," Dylan complained. "My head is of the perfect size.

Claire shook her head and sat down muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "moron".

"So, what is the assignment?" Mr. Sanders asked.

"I have to write an essay about a particular pharaoh of the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Ancient Egypt," Dylan explained. "What I don't understand is why 3000 years of Egyptian rule finish with Cleopatra's death. I mean, for 3 millennia there were more dynasties that replaced the previous ones if the bloodlines got broken, so what made this case different?"

"Well, the first thing you have to understand when it comes to the Ptolemaic Dynasty is that they were not Egyptians to begin with, they were Greek," Sanders began. "After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C., Egypt came under the rule of Ptolomei, who was one of Alexander's generals and an ancestor of Cleopatra."

"However, there was one key factor that allowed Egypt's survival for 3 millennia," Sanders continued. "For all that time, up until the Assyrian invasions, Egypt was the unrivalled power of the region. There were simply no civilizations close to its border that could match them blow for blow for many centuries. So after Alexander conquered Egypt from the Persians, who in turn welcomed Ptolomei as a liberator and a very wise ruler, Egypt reclaimed its independence. But this time, they had a problem: by the time of Alexander's death, there was another civilization on the rise that would eventually challenge Egypt, a superpower like the world have never seen. This was the Roman Empire," Mr. Sanders explained. "And it was during the period of conflict between the two most powerful Mediterranean empires that Cleopatra became ruler of Egypt."

"Okay," Dylan said slowly. "What happened next?"

"What probably became one of the most remarkable acts of seduction of all time," Sanders said, smirking. "I suppose you have heard that Cleopatra had a reputation for being a ruthless seductress, right?"

The twins nodded.

"Well, the story says that Cleopatra seduced Julius Caesar into an alliance and even had a son with him," Sanders explained. "What the story doesn't say, is that Cleopatra seduced Caesar with the help of a love spell."

"What?!" Dylan asked, wide-eyed.

"Cleopatra was a witch?" Claire asked with shock.

"Most Egyptian pharaohs were," Sanders confessed. "My research has led me to believe that if witchcraft did not originate in Egypt, at least they perfected the art there. Most pharaohs said they were descendants from gods, remember? Well, people believed that because they did have powers."

The twins looked at each other for a moment as they processed that piece of information before they turned to Sanders. "And then?" They pressed on.

"Then, all hell broke loose," Mr. Sanders said dramatically. "After Caesar was assassinated, Cleopatra realized her plans to become the queen of the entire Mediterranean were hanging in the balance, so she allied herself with a Roman general named Mark Antony, but their combined armies were defeated by Octavian, the man who would become the first true emperor of Rome. After her ally's death, Cleopatra realized it was only a matter of time before the Roman legions invaded Egypt to capture her to be displayed as a vulgar trophy on the streets of Rome. So, in her last act of defiance, she committed suicide by letting a cobra bite her," he explained. "After her death, Egypt became a part of the Roman Empire, and with its independence lost, there couldn't be another pharaoh to take Cleopatra's place."

"Wow, I wish you were my history teacher," Dylan remarked. "You really know how to make history interesting."

"Why, thank you," Sanders said, chuckling. "I am glad to help."

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"What do you think she's doing in there?" Diana asked, worried about what her grandmother could possibly be doing in town.

Cassie looked up. "There's a window there, but it's too high up." Cassie said, trying to look through the window but failing miserably.

"Let me come to you aid, my lady," Jake said, faking a bow.

"Oh, my knight in shining armor," Cassie said with a smile.

"Okay, can you two flirt later?" Diana asked. "And make sure to block me out of the link when you do." Cassie laughed at her sister and then looked at Jake.

"Give me a boost," Cassie said and Jake lifted Cassie up so she could see through the window. "All I can see is the back of Kate's head. Come on, move." Cassie whispered, looking through and only seeing Kate. Finally after a minute, Kate moved and Cassie saw Charles sitting there.

Cassie saw red as she saw the person who murdered her mother. "Charles," Cassie hissed, loud enough for Diana and Jake to hear. Jake immediately put Cassie on the floor and could see Cassie's anger.

"Cassie, you can't kill him," Jake told her, not trying to be gentle about it. He knew how Cassie got when she was mad and truthfully, Charles deserved it. "Not with Diana here. Calm down." Cassie took a couple of deep breaths but was still angry.

Diana was ignoring the two, looking up at the window. "I thought he was dead," she said and then looked at Jake. "Give me a boost." Jake lifted Diana up so Diana could see through the window. Charles was inside, just as Cassie had said. Looking more closely, Diana noticed something. "It looks like he has those black things crawling under his skin. Like he's possessed." Diana told them when Jake put her down. "Didn't Dawn say he looked possessed when he supposedly died?"

Jake nodded. "Yeah," Jake said remembering that day on the boat. "he was."

"So what do we do?" Diana asked, able to feel Cassie's anger, and truthfully she was angry herself. She had almost lost her sister trying to protect this man's memory. Now she had Cassie back and she didn't know if this would ruin the relationship again. On the other hand, her father, the man who raised her, was alive. She wasn't an orphan anymore. The man had killed her sister's mom though and done some horrible things. But he had also saved her friends' lives on the boat. Diana was torn.

Cassie wasn't torn that much. She wanted to hurt that man. The man who had killed her mom deserved to be dead. Jake put his arms around Cassie to calm her down and make sure she didn't do anything rash. "I don't know," Jake said.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Melissa and Faye walked into the mall, ready for some serious shopping.

"It's been ages since we've done this," Melissa told Faye, sounding upset.

"Yeah, I know. I've been really busy lately. I've told you." Faye replied defensively.

"Busy with Adam," Melissa muttered under her breath.

"Oh, shut up," Faye told her before dragging her into the nearest clothes shop.

"What do you think of this?" Faye asked, holding up a tight black dress and looking in the mirror.

"You want to impress Adam?" Melissa asked.

"No, I just want to treat myself," Faye told her.

"Well you have loads of dresses like that, get something different." Melissa said.

"Oh, okay then," Faye replied, pouting when she put the dress back.

"Oh, come on," Melissa told her, dragging her to a more colourful section. "Let's try loads of stuff on, like we always used to." Melissa suggested.

"Now that sounds like fun!" Faye agreed.

They both grabbed armfuls of clothes, which included everything from brightly coloured shirts to tiny little skirts. Faye trying to get mostly dark, black clothes and throwing horrible pink things back at Melissa when she tried to make her try them on.

The girls had fun, going from shop to shop trying on a ridiculous amount of outfits and only buying a little. They had fun posing in the changing rooms, and Faye even did a little catwalk for one unimpressed shop assistant who was annoyed at them.

A couple of hours later, they stopped for coffee.

"That was fun," Melissa said, still laughing.

"I know! Did you see that grumpy woman's face? She really needed to lighten up," Faye agreed.

"Oh God, yeah," Melissa replied, "She was miserable."

"Yeah well, she was ugly. That's probably why." Faye suggested.

"Faye," Melissa gasped, before dissolving into laughter. They still hadn't stopped five minutes later when the waiter brought two coffees to their table.

"Well, that retail therapy certainly cheered me up! But now I am starving. Want to get some food?" Faye asked Melissa cheerfully, as they sat and drank their coffee.

Melissa nodded, "Why not?" She said, passing Faye one of the menus.

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Cassie was seething in anger and nothing Diana did to calm her down through their link seemed to work. Jake just stood there, at a loss of what to do as the two sisters argued. Then, their conversation was cut short by a sudden voice.

"Are you just going to stand there all day, or are you going to come inside?" Kate demanded as she opened the door.

Cassie just walked past her into the room, followed by a concerned Jake and finally by Diana after a staring contest with her grandmother. There, sitting in a chair like a statue, was Charles.

Cassie looked at him with a murderous stare, and her gaze moved slightly to a kitchen knife on a table across the room. Abruptly, the knife was magically flung toward Charles, but it was suddenly pulled toward Kate's hand. She glared at Cassie.

"Let me warn you," Kate said in a harsh tone. "If you dare to lay a hand on my son, I will make myself sure you live the rest of your life in misery," She threaten.

"HE KILLED MY MOM!" Cassie yelled.

"Exactly," Kate pointed out. "That means you have a motive. If my son dies, you would be the first suspect the police will have after word of this gets out, and trust me, even if I have to manipulate the mind of the entire jury and the judge, I guarantee you will spend the rest of your life in prison."

"You think you can take me?" Cassie growled as their glaring contest continued. "I overpowered your spell once before."

"Yes, I think I can take you," Kate spat. "You could only do that because your dark magic was fully activated, and now you don't have it anymore. You really think raw magical power is everything? You need skill and experience as well, and I have much more of that than you will ever have."

"You really want to test me?" Cassie glowered.

"I could ask the same thing." Kate countered.

"STOP!" Diana yelled at the top of her lungs, causing both to look at her. "You two are not fighting, especially in front of me, because even if I have to leave town and abandon both of you forever to keep you from killing each other, I swear I will do it!"

Cassie jerked her head upward and stared at her in disbelief. "You are not serious," She gasped out.

"Get inside my head and tell me if I am serious," Diana retorted.

Cassie did just that and her eye sockets almost burst when she realized she wasn't bluffing.

"Why?" Cassie asked, outraged. "You are my sister.

"And despite everything, she is still my grandmother," Diana said, lifting her chin. "I love you Cassie, but Kate has always been there for me since I was little and I love her too, so don't force me to choose because I will pick neither. It's either both of you or neither, so make your peace with that or I will leave Chance Harbour before the day is out and never look back."

Cassie stared at her sister as if she just mutated into demon. Her jaw was hanging open and her eyes were torn between disgust and tears. Even her heart seemed to beat much slower than usual, as if under the threat of a heart attack. Slowly, Cassie looked at Kate and swallowed hard before nodding.

"Fine," Cassie sighed, restraining herself.

Diana then looked at her grandmother, who was beaming a smile at her. "Of course," She said.

Jake then cleared his throat. "Well, now that we aren't after each other's throats, could you please tell us what is going on with Charles?"

Kate nodded. "Charles entered this state when he exorcised the demons inside Eben at the price of becoming the host himself," she explained. "I return to Chance Harbour to look for help, but it's hard to eliminate 6 demons without killing the host as well. However, I am pretty sure that with the help of your Circle, it could be done."

Kate raised a hand before Cassie could protest. "In case you have forgotten, girl, my son here placed his life on the line to save your friends from certain death. He knew he was probably sacrificing his life in doing so but he did it anyway, no doubt while trying to get redemption for his sins. Look me in the eyes and tell me that doesn't count for something," Kate demanded.

Cassie looked at her but when she couldn't get the words out of her mouth, she just averted her gaze. Kate nodded.

"At any rate, this isn't your call, Cassie Blake," she declared. "And that is for the same reason the law doesn't let people kill others because of revenge, no matter how strong their motives may be. It's up to Diana to make the decision."

All eyes moved to Diana, who was in turn staring at the man who raised her. She was silent for the longest time, and Cassie didn't try to use the link. She just stood there, waging her options.

"Well," Diana eventually said with a sigh, "he has already waited several months in a coma. He can wait a few more days while I make a decision."

TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC

Nicholas Sanders hung up the phone and sighed in relief. He asked the bank manager to check the content of his bank vault where he kept his three strongest magical artefacts. The employees just believed they were museum pieces being kept there for safety, and since Sanders does have a degree in archaeology, it wasn't hard to do the paperwork.

He looked at the wood in the fire and bit his bottom lip before raising his palm. Sanders closed his eyes and breathed slowly as he tapped into the external forces of nature to practice shamanism. His eyes then snapped open as he felt the connection gradually strengthen. With one last deep breath, he turned the oxygen he inhaled into fuel for his spell. After a few minutes, the wood on the fireplace was burning hot.

Sanders sighed. It was good to know that even without his artefacts he could still use self-generated magical energy from his relatively weak core and increase the power slightly with shamanist natural energy that emanates from life forms. The problem was that the spell took a truly heavy toll on his physical energy, whereas with one of his elemental artefacts, setting things on fire was a piece of cake.

He was about to go to sleep when the phone rang. Feeling tired and uninterested, he picked the phone and asked who it was. When he got the answer, he was wide awake.

"Janett?" Sanders asked, surprised.

"Hello there," she said in a tone that made Sanders realize she was smirking. "How is my favourite teacher?"

He sighed. "Honestly, I have been better."

"What happened?" Janett asked with sudden concern.

"Someone broke into my house two nights ago and destroyed most of my magical artefacts," He said miserably.

"WHAT?!" Janett asked in a shocked voice. "Who?"

"I don't know, but since we are talking, you might be able to help me," he replied. "When was the last time you heard anything from Rene Talbot?"

"Last week," Janett said after a moment. "And it wasn't something I heard about, Nicholas, I actually saw him."

There was a tense silence on both sides of the line for a while. "Do you know something?" Sanders ended up asking.

"Not about him trying to hunt you down to destroy your artefacts, if that's what you are asking," she assured. "But I did hear some interesting supernatural developments."

"Do share then," Sanders pressed on.

"Well, one week ago, I was heading to the library at Duke to do some research in the middle of the night when I noticed the door was locked," Sanders's former apprentice started. "I found that strange, so I carefully looked in the window and saw the receptionist's head on his desk. What really caught my attention though was that I could sense the imprint of a sleeping spell on him, so I looked around further. And just then, I caught a glimpse of Rene with a guy I didn't recognize in the folkloric section. I quickly moved out of sight."

"Rene was looking for something?" Sanders demanded.

"Yeah," Janett replied. "I knew I couldn't use a spell to eavesdrop without Rene sensing it so I took the magical artefact you gave me as a graduation gift designed to do just that."

Sanders nodded. He had two such artefacts, one of which was among the ones destroyed, but he given the other one he had to her last year.

"And what did you find out?"

"Nothing good," Janett said grimly. "It seems you were right, Nicholas. Rene is working for a demon. And not just any demon; he is working for one of the Ancient Ones."

Sanders swallowed hard. Just what in blaze was Talbot thinking? The Ancient Ones are too evil, too powerful, and too unpredictable to make a deal with and be considered sane. What could the ageless demon have promised for him to even consider becoming his employee?

"What else?" Sanders forced himself to ask.

"Well, I managed to get three things from their conversation," she continued. "The first was that the other man in the room is called Callum, leader of a large group of Left-handed Voodoo practitioners, and that Rene was sent by his leader to convince Callum to join his minions. The second thing was that Rene wanted to get a book about Egyptian relics of the Old Kingdom, which he stole. And the third thing is probably the worst," she said in a shaken voice. "Rene told this Callum that aside from his leader, another Ancient One has been recently awakened. And not just any Ancient One; it's the oldest and most powerful."

Sander paled at that. He had heard stories regarding the very first demonic being who ever lived. According to legend, his powers were so strong that he could destroy mountains with a single thought, his voice was so seductive it could taint the minds of very emotional beings with respect for morals, and his endgame so terrifying, it could topple mankind from the top of the hierarchy of the world. The story says he was defeated by the heir of a powerful witch bloodline through great determination and even greater sacrifice, but after that, it is very hard to find out what happened next or where the Ancient One was sealed. It was as if something or someone tried their hardest to ensure the legend was not finished.

"Before Rene left, Callum said he would think about the offer, but he didn't promise anything. I had to leave before they exited the library and realized I listened to their conversation," Janett finished.

Sanders thought deeply on the events he just heard before finding his voice again. "Do you still remember my email address?" He asked.

"Sure," Janett Monroe answered.

"Then please do me a favour," he said. "In my old office of the library in the folkloric section, I keep something hidden with a powerful spell. When I got the message that the Crystal Skull was reformed, I dedicated all of my attention to doing the months-long preparations into moving to Chance Harbour, and only when I was on the other side of the country did realize I left it in my office."

"What is it?" The young witch asked curiously.

"Something that absolutely stunned me when I realized what it was," he said, chuckling. "I found it in the Middle Eastern archaeological site known as Petra a couple years ago when there was a digging project to uncover more of the magnificent ancient city. Believe it or not, it's a serving scroll of the Library of Alexandria."

Sanders laughed at the silence as he imagined her stunned face.

"You got what?!" She exploded.

"You heard me," Sanders said, smirking. "Remember that Petra traded with Egypt during the Ptolemaic Dynasty, so I assume that a noble from Petra bought a scroll and took it with him. There could very well be many more scrolls there, considering that over 80 percent of the city is still under the sand."

"What does it say?" Janett demanded.

"I am not sure," He admitted. "The scroll was written in the Egyptian language known as Demotic, but from the little I have been able to translate, I am certain it's a magic scroll and that it talks about demons. I want to check it out again and see if I can get some answers. So, please take a picture of it and email it to me."

Sanders then told her the words to counter the spell that hid the scroll.

"You are putting a lot of trust in me with this assignment," Janett stated.

"You have earned it," Sanders replied with confidence.

"Thanks," She said gratefully. "Good night, Nicholas."

Sander put the phone down and stood there for several minutes in deep thought. Something sinister is on the rise, that much was sure. If only he could figure out what it was.

**Anon review replies:**

**Guest: Sorry, it's still every two weeks.**

**Eva: Yes, there was: :)**

**Olivia: No problem at all! Glad you liked it :) and I hope things get better**

**Guest: Huh... interesting idea.**


	19. Reminisce

Episode 19 – "Reminisce"

"Faye… Faye, stop it!"

The dark-haired witch in question just smirked and flung another piece of popcorn at Diana. "No. Not unless you stop talking while I'm trying to watch TV." Diana was familiar with the show Faye was watching—something about a dollhouse and brainless, zombie-like people—but Faye insisted for absolute silence when she was trying to watch it.

"I'm trying to ask you something." Diana insisted. "Please?"

"Fine." Faye huffily paused it.

Diana sighed. "I've been thinking about dad…"

"Diana—"

"No, just give me a minute." She said. "Cassie won't talk to me about what I should do because she's still upset about how he killed her mom and she doesn't want to influence me with that. I understand it, but I really wish I had someone to talk to. What should I do about him, Faye? I'm sure he didn't kill Cassie's mom because he's a sociopath or because he wanted to…"

"No, I think you're right, he didn't." Faye conceded. "But he did kill her."

"So you're on Cassie's side?" Diana wondered why she felt so hurt; it was Faye she was talking to after all. It wasn't like Faye gave a damn about what people thought when she was asked her opinion.

"No, not at all." Faye set the bowl of popcorn down. "He could be a sociopath, or maybe he was just in a bad situation and did what he had to. It's not for me to decide what you do, Diana. He's your dad."  
Diana groaned in frustration, head cradled in her hands. "I know, I just… I don't want to be the reason he's forever in a demon coma, or the reason he dies, but I also don't want to be the reason he kills again."

"Then don't make a decision just yet." Faye advised. She switched the TV back on. "It's not like he's going anywhere."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC  
**

"Come on!" Lucas bellowed as he stared in frustration at the candle. "Burn to a crisp, you stupid piece of wax!"  
Claire rolled her eyes. "You do realize you are talking to a candle? And besides, even if you would manage to burn it, the candle would melt instead."

Dylan laughed as Lucas slapped his forehead and looked utterly desperate. "What did I do to deserve having a know-it-all midget for a sister?"

"Hey!" Claire growled. "I am not a midget. You are just a giant," she said as her eyes a devious look. "That's right, Lucas, you are just like Hagrid."

Claire had to contain the urge to chuckle when Lucas looked like he wanted to cry. Claire knew it was kind of mean to find his pain funny but what could she say? She was having fun.

"I think you enjoy verbally torturing Lucas a little too much, sis," Ryder said as he looked up from the desk.

Claire scowled. "At least I am not abusive."

She expected Ryder to snap at her, but he just sighed. "No, you are not. You may be devious when you want to have fun, but you are kind at the core and I wouldn't have it any other way."

The twins stared at their older brother like he grew a second head. "Okay," she said slowly. "Have you been drinking?"

"No, I am just saying what I should have said a long time ago," Ryder said without a trace of sarcasm in his voice. "I am sorry for what Lucas and I put the two of you through. We shouldn't have pushed you around or tempted you to give in to your dark magic."

"Then why did you do it?" Dylan asked evenly.

"Because it would have been easier," Ryder explained. "If you two turned out to be like us, then we would have stuck together right from the jump instead of you two seeking out Melissa whenever you wanted to hang out."

"Oh, are you jealous of Melissa, Ryder?" Claire asked in half-shock, half-amusement.

"Somewhat," he admitted. "She has been a better surrogate sister to the two of you than I have been a blood brother, and that has me thinking that maybe I should treat you better."

The twins exchanged looks. They hadn't expected Ryder to be so open, but maybe his lack of dark magic was starting to change him. In the end, the two of them shrugged and went to Ryder and hugged him.

"Come on, Lucas," Dylan asked.

The tallest sibling looked like he wanted to complain, but then sighed. "If you can't beat them, join them."

Shortly after the brothers pulled away, they heard a knock on the door. When Ryder opened it, he frowned when she saw it was Mr. Sanders.

"Hello there," The half-witch said cordially.

"What are you doing here?" He demanded.

"Well, since you want me to go straight to the point, I will be direct," Sanders stated. "If you are interested, I am willing to teach you to improve your prowess with light magic."

Ryder and Lucas glanced at each other before looking back at him. "Why?" They asked in unison.

"Honestly? Survival," Mr. Sanders said bluntly. "Now that most of my magical collection has been destroyed, I am nowhere near as powerful as I used to be, and whoever destroyed my artefacts is still out there. He or she may have something to do with your dark magic leaving your bloodline. I don't want to be caught between a rock and a hard place now that I am weaker, and I am guessing neither do any of you. The five of us have something in common: we all lost our strongest power source. So, I propose we help each other. If you let me, I will teach you how to harness your light power, and in return, I expect you to be more capable of defending yourselves so that if you ever find me in a dangerous situation, you may be able to help me," He explained. "So, what do you say?"

"Sign me up," Dylan said immediately. "You are an awesome teacher."

Mr. Sanders smiled as Claire sighed and voiced her agreement. Lucas and Ryder looked at each other as they pondered the offer. They still weren't sure if they could trust Sanders, but he did mention some good arguments. Both of them were sick and tired of their magic not working, so they begrudgingly agreed.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC  
**

Jake waited for Melissa to pick up, really hoping she would. He was sitting in his dark room alone, remembering Nick.

"Hello," Melissa answered quietly.

"It's Jake," He whispered to her, even though she probably already knew.

"I know, hey." Melissa sighed sadly.

"I was thinking maybe we should do something together for Nick." Jake said, unsure of what he wanted to do.

"That sounds nice. How about we go down to his grave?" Melissa suggested.

"Yeah, I haven't been there in ages." Jake admitted.

"Me neither, which is bad." Melissa told him. "I'll get some nice flowers to put on his grave."

"Oh alright then, get whatever you want." Jake told her.

"Do you want to call the circle? Bring Cassie along to help you?" Melissa asked.

"No, I don't think so. I mean of course I'd want Cassie to come, but I think it would be better if it was just the two of us. After all, we were closest to him. Plus nowadays, all everyone does is argue." Jake told her.

"Yeah, you're right. Let's just go and remember Nick." She agreed.

"Okay then, I'll meet you at the graveyard in an hour," Jake said.

"I'll be there," Melissa told him sadly.

"I can't believe it's been a whole year." Jake told her.

"I know, so much has happened that it feels like it's been a lot longer. I still miss him though." Melissa said.

"So do I, so do I. Look, I'll see you at the graveyard in a bit." Jake said.

"Yeah, okay then, see you later." Melissa said.

"Oh, and Melissa, thank you for loving my brother." Jake whispered before hanging up.

He then carried on flicking through the old photos of him and Nick that he'd been looking at before he'd called Melissa. God, he missed his brother. Jake sat in silence just thinking about Nick before he got up and slowly left his house, heading to the graveyard.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC  
**

"What a mess," Dylan deadpanned.

In one of the four corners of the backyard of Sanders's house, a pile of different shattered pieces of manmade objects laid over the grass. The siblings looked at Mr. Sanders as he stared with obvious sadness at the pile.

"Yeah," Sanders said in a small voice. "I am keeping the pieces there until I find a way to eliminate the remaining magical residue of the artefacts. Until then, I just can't throw them in the garbage, or else some scavenger might get killed by the sporadic bursts of power."

He then turned his face toward them. "What we are going to do will not exactly increase your light magical powers," He began. "If my theory is correct, and I believe it is, then the process would open your magical cores in order to gain access to your light magic and make it far easier to control. But first, I need you four to stand in the middle of the backyard."

The brothers looked at each other and shrugged as they did what they were told.

"Now, stay still while under the sunlight," Mr. Sanders explained. "Noon is only 30 seconds upon us. Oh, and be quiet," He added.

The Balcoins watched as he took out a cell phone and stared at its screen. When the 30 seconds were up, he started speaking in some unknown language to the quartet. Claire and Ryder were the most knowledgeable of the four, having read many magical books, and they were sure that language was not Latin. Usually, even if they don't understand the word said in Latin, they have some sort of feeling that it is a language based on the unique etymology. But they couldn't recognize a word he said...and yet, they all got the strange feeling they should understand that language completely.

When Sanders stopped speaking, they felt something snap inside them and gasped.

"What did you do?" Ryder demanded. "And what language was that?"

"What I did was complete a shamanistic ritual that channels the sun and its highest point to reawaken your light magic," Sanders replied calmly. "As for what language I was speaking, it was Old Demotic. I don't fully understand that language, but I know enough for a few ancient spells and rituals that require the use of an Egyptian tongue. Now, why don't you test out your abilities?"

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC  
**

Faye was rolling her eyes at Diana's last comment as Cassie walked in. It was weird for her seeing Diana and Faye spending so much time together. She couldn't understand how Diana could actually trust Faye after the fashion show and everything else that had happened in the last month or so.

Faye and Diana looked up to see a strange thoughtful look on Cassie's face.

"Don't think too much, you might hurt yourself." Faye teased and got a playful push from Diana. This pulled Cassie away from her thoughts.

"Don't worry Faye, I'm not staying long...in my own house." Cassie told her, causing Faye to roll her eyes.

"Well, technically it is in the hands of my mother, as she is your guardian," Faye said with a small smirk, "But whatever you say."

"Nice chat Faye," Cassie said, "I'm gonna head out. I'll see you later, Diana."

"Where are you going?" Faye asked before Diana could reply to her sister. Cassie stopped in her tracks and slowly turned to face Faye and Diana.

"It's really none of your business." Cassie told Faye simply'

"Well, you are either going to Jake's or possibly Melissa's to practice your super witch powers, so you might as well tell me cause I'll find out later." Faye told her with a shrug.

"Faye, just leave it and let her go." Diana said. She didn't want to be in the middle of a Faye and Cassie fight. Cassie was her sister and only family, but Faye was her friend, even if they never admitted it. Faye hadn't judged her and had taken her in when she had no one else, and she just wished that she and Cassie wouldn't fight anymore.

"No, Diana, it's fine. If she wants to butt into my life because hers is going down the toilet again, let her." Cassie told Diana, but watched Faye who simply raised her eyebrows at the other witch. Faye was good with her masks, everyone knew that, and she would never let little Cassie get to her.

"Are you going to tell us? Or are you going to leave everyone hanging?" Faye asked, and Cassie gave a small smile.

"I'm going to Jake's." Cassie told her, a little hint of triumph in her voice. Faye just nodded before turning back to Diana. Cassie stood there for a second before turning again, "Bye Diana."

"Bye."

"Good luck." Faye said the same time as Diana spoke. Diana turned to give Faye a disbelieving look as Cassie turned and almost stormed back into the room.

"What is that suppose to mean?" Cassie asked a little angrily.

"Cassie-" Diana started, but was interrupted by Faye.

"Well, it means that I know Jake won't be home right now. So good luck finding him." Faye said with a casual shrug.

"How do you know Jake won't be home?" Cassie asked, a small frown gracing her features.

"I didn't think you even spoke to Jake." Diana said, and Faye just rolled her eyes.

"I may not speak to Jake anymore,and we may not be on the best of terms," Faye paused, "But I know him better than anyone, and I know that today he won't be in the house and he won't be very sociable either."

"Why today?" Cassie asked, still confused as Diana's hand covered her mouth.

"Oh God," Diana said quietly, "I can't believe that we forgot."

"I didn't forget," Faye pointed out before pointing at Cassie and Diana, "But you two did."

"Okay, seriously what are you two talking about?" Cassie asked, a little frustrated.

"Great girlfriend you are." Faye muttered and Diana punched her leg, "Okay ow!" Faye said before turning back to Cassie, "As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted," she said, glaring at Diana, "You forgot that it is the anniversary of your boyfriend's brother's death. You forgot all about the fact that this time last year, there was a demon in Melissa that you let loose and then it killed Nick and destroyed Melissa's life."

"Okay, Faye, you are being a little dramatic-" Diana said, and Faye raised an eyebrow.

"Really? So she didn't wear black for months and didn't nearly kill herself with Devil's spirit?" Faye asked, and Diana simply sighed, not answering.

"I should go find him." Cassie said simply.

"That might not be the best idea," Faye said. "Jake is not going to want to be around people right now, his brother died, and this is the first time that he has had time to grieve."

"I think we should go," Diana said standing up, "All of us." She said pointedly at Faye, offering her her hand.

"If I think it is a bad idea for you to go, then I am sure it is the worst idea for me to go." Faye said.

"Why?" Diana asked, and Faye laughed slightly.

"Because you guys don't trust me or particularly like me, so what's the point? I'll go see Nick later." Faye said with a shrug.

"Faye, this is something we need to do as a Circle and as friends." Cassie said quietly, still not able to believe she had forgotten that it was the anniversary of Nick's death. So much had been going on she had forgotten.

"Fine," Faye said with a small sigh, "But if it pisses Jake off, I blame you two." She said standing up. Diana just smiled as they all grabbed their things and headed to the door.

"Uh, on second thought, I'm gonna head to the Boathouse." Faye told them and the other two paused.

"Are you going to go get Adam?" Diana asked, and Faye shrugged.

"I dunno, maybe." She said, heading out the door. "See you later."

Cassie turned to Diana, who simply shrugged, knowing Faye probably didn't want her to mention the incident after the fashion show to Cassie. With a sigh, Diana linked arms with her sister's, "Lets go."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"Great shot," Sanders commented, impressed.

The four siblings were practicing their magic with target practice. He would throw in the air a tennis ball from the pile he collected and they would try to either shoot it down or redirect its course with magic. Mr. Sanders explained this was to increase their accuracy so that their command over their magic became faster and more natural, to the point where it became second nature.

Lucas had just blown up a ball with sporadic fire combustion and that made him grin like a big idiot.

"Finally," He muttered.

Claire rolled her eyes. "Throw another one," She urged.

Mr. Sanders nodded and threw a ball 30 feet in the air. Claire raised a palm and opened herself both to the magic of her core and to the solar energy around her. Suddenly, the sunlight seemed to redirect itself as if there were a lens toward her palm and her palm were a mirror. The sunlight redirected to the ball in the form of an orange beam of magic that shot upwards and made an explosion like a firecracker.

"How remarkable!" Sanders exclaimed as Claire looked smugly at Lucas.

"Are you trying to make me look bad?" He demanded.

His little sister scratched her chin in fake consideration. "Maybe," She ended up saying with a smirk.  
Lucas groaned as Ryder looked pensive. "Mr. Sanders?"

"Yes?"

"What's the difference between the shamanistic use of elements and the one of your magical core?" He asked.

"Well," The half-witch replied after a moment of consideration. "To be fairly honest, I am not completely sure. I have done some studies, however, that have led me to believe that the main difference is the energy approach," He explained. "Think of your core as a nuclear power plant. Even after a lot of energy consumption, it has what it needs to rebuild its own energy eventually. In other words, your magical core has the potential to generate its own magic. The problem comes when you are in danger and do not have the time to recover.  
Shamanism, on the other hand," He continued, "is all about drawing natural energy from outside your body, an external approach, if you will. Really dedicated shamans with a lot of experience have the potential to draw magical energy from a nearly limitless supply since nature is virtually everywhere. However, even they have their limits because the mortal body hardly ever resists such high levels of power without falling apart. That's why witches who also learn how to perform shamanism have better control and storage of power. Essentially, their magical core works as a bank vault. In other words, the main difference between the shamanistic and magical use of the elements is only as different as the power inside a core of a witch and the ability to channel energy from nature. It depends, but witches who also practice shamanism usually have the statistic advantage."

Ryder nodded slowly and considered the possibilities to increase his powers.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC  
**

Adam had been sitting in the back room of the Boathouse for who knows how long, contemplating. When he had the time, he thought over everything that had happened in their lives in the last year or so. So many things had changed and it was hard to keep up sometimes.

Hearing the opening and closing of a door, Adam looked up and saw Faye standing by the door. He knew they had been fighting, but she didn't seem like she wanted to spend that much time with him before that. Raising an eyebrow at her, he waited for her to speak.

"My plans fell through, so I wondered if you wanted to do something." Faye said, sounding a little off, but it didn't bother Adam that much. There was a lot on his mind, and no one else's life or feelings seemed to matter anymore.

"I'm kind of busy here, Faye." Adam told her, standing up and moving to the door, Faye opened her mouth to speak, then stopped. What was she suppose to say to that? Her 'boyfriend' was blowing her off again and doing it today, of all days.

"Okay." Faye answered, shocking herself and Adam, "I just guessed you would get the need for a distraction today," she paused, "But you need to work, so I'll see you later." She stated before moving to leave through the door again.

Just as she was about to leave, she felt a hand on her arm and turned back to face a frowning Adam.

"Fine, I'll bite." Adam told her, "What's wrong?"

"I wasn't trying to get you to ask what was wrong, I just assumed you would get it, but it seems like I'm the only one who has remembered." She told him, and she actually sounded like she was telling the truth.

"Faye?" Adam asked again. There was this look in her eyes that worried him and stopped him from getting mad at her for drawing this out.

"Nick died a year ago today." Faye told him simply and gave a sad smile when the look of realisation came onto his face. "Don't worry, Diana and Cassie didn't remember either."

"Why do you remember?" Adam asked.

"'Cause I'm not as big of a bitch as everyone thinks I am."

"Maybe we should go and pay our respects." Adam suggested, and Faye let out a small sigh.

"I don't know if that is the best idea," She said,and Adam gave her a confused look. "Cassie and Diana are on their way there and I'm almost 100% sure Jake and Melissa will be there, too."

"So...?"

"So, they don't trust us and I don't think they would want us there."

"I don't care."

"Adam..."

"No, Nick was our friend too, and whatever is happening now, we were still his friend and that will never change."

Faye simply nodded, still a little worried at the reactions they would get when they showed up. Turning around, she led the way out of the Boathouse, followed by Adam.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie saw Melissa and Jake already crouched at Nick's grave, talking softly. Melissa's voice was thick, like she'd been crying. Jake was saying something, something she could just barely make out.

"… seems like so long ago…" he mumbled. "Everything was fine, wasn't it? He wasn't that nice to you or anything, but he was alive. And then… well, I think sometimes magic ruins everything. Wonder what it would have been like if Cassie had never shown up."

"That's not fair!" Cassie shouted. Melissa and Jake looked up.

"Damn it." Jake hissed. "Cassie, I didn't—" he added in a louder voice.

"No, you don't have to say anything to me." She said. "I thought you liked me, that you weren't angry about what happened with Nick."

Adam and Faye, standing off to the side a bit, both shifted nervously. Adam said, "Magic's not always bad…" he kept thinking about how much Jake would hate it if he found out what Faye and Adam were doing with Balcoin. There was so much magic, stronger and darker than Cassie's would ever be.

"Nick might have died anyway, magic or not." Faye suggested, wary. She could see Adam was on edge again, the last thing she wanted was more verbal abuse.

Jake stood and took a hesitant step towards Cassie. "Cassie, I'm not mad at you and I'm not blaming you. Haven't you ever thought of what might have happened if you'd never shown up?"

She hesitated to reply, glaring bitterly at him because she had, in fact, thought about it. She'd thought of how if her mom had never died what might have happened. She could imagine hanging out with Allison and Caity, her two old best friends. She might have been at a mall, instead of facing off with her boyfriend in a graveyard, happily gossiping about boys and who'd been groping who under the bleachers at the football game.

Diana wasn't sure what to do. She sidled over to Melissa, hoping that maybe Adam would just leave. The look on his face was starting to alarm her, it was as though he might snap at any minute and just lash out at everyone. She'd been getting the feeling lately that he was more powerful than he let on, and Faye had told her that he was awful to her.

"Cassie," Jake pleaded. "Please, don't be angry."

"No, you know what?" Everyone jumped in surprise at Melissa's voice, and even more so at how commanding she sounded. "No one's going to be angry at anyone, and no one's going to start fighting. You're all being idiots! I just wanted to remember Nick for a little while. I don't want to fight over why he died, or whose fault it was, or what could have caused any of this. Okay?"

Adam and Faye quickly fixed their eyes at the ground, and Jake and Cassie kept awkwardly side-eyeing each other, not sure what to say. Diana cast a small smile at Melissa, wondering when she'd gotten so in charge. Good for her.

"How about we go to the abandoned house, and just talk about him?" Melissa suggested. "It's not much, but I think it'd make us all feel better."

They all nodded silently. As they walked away, Faye caught up to Diana, leaving Adam by himself. Jake took Cassie's hand, squeezing it gently.

Maybe a temporary truce could be made, for once. Melissa sincerely hoped it would.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC  
**

Lucas, Ryder, Dylan and Claire started to leave. All of them were silently contemplating what they'd learned today. Claire and Dylan were buzzing with the information that they didn't need to use dark magic, they could use light! Claire had never liked using her dark magic and had always wanted an alternative, and now she had one.  
Lucas was running all the possibilities through his head. They could do anything, they could be strong again. Even without their dark magic, he knew if he made them all train and build up their light magic skills then they could be strong again. Lucas got really happy and excited when he thought about all the power and strength he could get back. Now pretty much anything was possible again, after what he'd learned today he felt happier than he had in ages.

Dylan stayed pretty quiet as he went home with his siblings. He was quite surprised by what they'd learned. He would never have thought he could be so powerful again, not since he lost his dark magic. Dylan wasn't too bothered about being powerful, not like Lucas was. He was happy that he still had magic, and didn't have to use dark magic since he'd never really liked it. Dylan just stayed quiet and thought this over; he no longer needed to use dark magic!

Ryder had just finished a quick conversation with Lucas about what to do now. Both of them had agreed that now they knew they could be strong again, they needed to practice and strengthen their magic like they used to. They had also agreed that whether or not Claire and Dylan liked it, they would be building up their magic to be as strong as their old dark magic. Ryder saw it as a good way to protect them, and as long as they built up their light magic, then they would also be able to use it if they needed to, especially if they ever got into a bad situation like they had so many times before.

All of the Balcoins were happy with this new information. For different reasons, they all agreed that having strong light magic was a good thing. So now they had to work on their magic to strengthen it. And they had to start as soon as possible.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

It was far too late to still be at the abandoned house, but everyone was too drunk to even care.

"Remember the thing with the shoes?" Melissa asked, words slurred together. "That was… I don't even remember when."

"Oh, the shoes!" Faye chortled in agreement. She was lounging on one of the couches with Diana, feet carelessly thrown across the other girl's lap.

Cassie raised her eyebrows. "The shoes? That sounds like the lamest story in the history of… lame stories."

"It was in elementary school." Melissa explained. "The principal, oh she was awful. And she had this thing with shoes, hated it when kids ran around in sock feet, so obviously they did all the time. This one day we'd all stayed after for fish club—the science department kept a ton of guppies, we bred and showed them—but Nick decided we should roam the halls instead. We were only in third grade, weren't we?"

"Yeah!" Faye said. "So we went up to the fifth-grade hallway, and it was completely empty! Unheard of, back then. The janitor had waxed it, and it was slippery, so…"

"You sock-skated?" Cassie guessed.

Diana laughed. "Yes, yes! That was the most fun. Nick left our shoes tucked in a corner of the bathroom nearby so we could run in there if we wanted them, and we all ran at top speed down the hallway. Ran half, slid half. It was the most fun!"

"But the principal showed up while we were at the other end of the hallway," Melissa recounted, "So we couldn't go back for our shoes, we had to leg it. Two flights of stairs we ran, almost broke our necks. I don't think she saw us, but she definitely found our shoes in the bathroom. The next day when we came to school we saw them, sitting in the front office."

"She never actually proved it was us who left them there." Diana said.

"Or that we were the ones who smashed that science exhibit while we were fleeing." Faye added.

"No, that was just you." Melissa reminded her. "Remember? 'Oh, what if we knock this over? It'll distract her and we can get outside and get to mom and dad's car before she find us!'"

Faye stuck out her tongue. "Please. There are hundreds of embarrassing things that you did in school, Melissa."

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC  
**

Nicholas Sanders put down his cup of coffee on the desk as he stared at his laptop. He finally received the email from Janett with the picture of the scroll of the Library of Alexandria and he expanded the size of the picture with the computer to see it better.

Sanders had been trying to decipher the meaning of the old Egyptian writing for several hours after the Balcoins left and he was finally making some progress. His own knowledge of the demotic language hadn't radically improved, but he called a friend of his who was an Egyptologist and he sent him some sort of digital dictionary he had develop with his own studies on Egypt. With a lot of patience, Sanders attempt to decode the ancient text, while at the same time, trying to make a rough interpretation of the combined words in a sentence structure. After hours of work, he was finally feeling the results.

Apparently, the scroll was written by a royal scribe under the direct orders of Ptolemy XII Auletes, the father of Cleopatra herself. It was the data immortalized in the papyrus, however, that gave Sanders both awe and dread.  
It said that Ptolemy XII Auletes was a witch with extraordinary senses when it comes to visions of the future. The scroll explained that he had a vision about the impeding conquest of Egypt by the Romans, but that he believed he couldn't prevent it from happening. Apparently, he decided to take the secret to the grave with him, but not before making his royal scribe write some copies of the supernatural knowledge he wanted to preserve after Julius Caesar would accidentally burn the magestic library, and hide them with his allies in Petra to both warn and prepare future generations about an ancient evil that plagued Egypt during its early centuries.

As Sanders read on, his blood ran cold when the scroll mentioned that the first of the Ancient Ones tried to conquer Egypt along with an army of Dark witches. It went on to explain that the four most powerful witch families succeeded in sealing him inside...

Sanders gasped as he stared at the phrase. The most powerful of the Ancient Ones was sealed inside the Legendary Crystal Skull? But then...He looked down at the translated words he set aside in a computer document. He didn't really wanted to finish the rest, but he knew he had to. Breathing deeply, he continued.  
The information relayed that the ancient Pharaoh's future sight was such that he managed to predict the trapped demon would escape nearly 15 centuries later, during a time of chaos and carnage for witches, only to be sealed once more by a descendant of the strongest light magic family of the group of four that vanquished him the first time at the cost of his own blood and sanity of mind.

But to Sanders's horror, it also predicted a second release about half a millennia later around his own time. Then he remembered that Janett told him she heard the first Ancient One had been recently reawakened.  
Sanders wanted to know what happened next, but the last lines of the scroll were too worn to read, much to his dismay. He turned off his laptop and pondered on the information he gathered.

"A time of great carnage for witches half a millennium before our days," Sanders thought. "That's got to be the Inquisition. But that a powerful witch sealed him at the cost of his sanity and blood...oh no," Sanders gasped as realization dawned on him. "An heir of a powerful witch bloodline was said to have defeated the first Ancient One through great sacrifice," Sanders remembered as he recited the legend in his head. "But if he was who I think it was, with the method I am thinking, and the monstrosity was released recently, then it could explain why Cassie and her siblings do not have Dark magic in their blood anymore," He realized.

Sanders started pacing back and forth, praying that he was wrong. But some feeling in his gut told him he wasn't and that when this came down, all hell was going to break loose. And Sanders also had the feeling that this time, that particular phrase was going to be taken literally.

**Anon review replies**

**Guest: Um... sorry that you don't like the couples we have...?**

**Guest: Um, same with you, I guess. Sorry you don't like that Faye and Jake aren't together, because it's part of the plan for our plotline. **

**Guest: Team Faye and Ryder? I can honestly say that you're the first person to ever mention that couple **** interesting idea...**

**Guest: two chapters for Christmas? That's actually a cool idea, depends on whether or not all the writers can do it. But we'll give it thought, I promise **

**Guest: There might be a new guy in Faye's future, you never know ;) **

**Guest: thank you! I know in your review you mentioned something about your email address but it's no actually there. If you want you can PM one of the writers on , that would be a lot easier.**

**Pitbull: so sorry **


	20. Abandoned

**ATTENTION: the spellcheck for this was a bit hurried, so we apologize for any typos.**

**Also, if you check out my profile you can find a link for a TSC roleplay that we run, and an absolutely BRILLIANT trailer that Marril96 made for us!**

**Many thanks to CelloChick90, our editor :)**

**Plotline writers – Forcystus5, flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B**

**Writers –, Forcystus5, CharmedMilliE, ilove2dance, witch-witha-B, TtylerMaria**

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**The twitter account is TSC_Project and the tumblr account is The Secret Circle Project. We also have a facebook page, you can find it by searching The Secret Circle Project..**

**Disclaimer: We don't own The Secret Circle**

Episode 20 – "Abandoned"

Adam and Faye were sat around at the boathouse waiting for Balcoin, Faye was drinking a cup of coffee whilst she waited and Adam was doing some cleaning behind the bar. Adam decided to stop working and went over to sit with Faye, so they could wait together. Balcoin would be there soon.

"So where were you yesterday? I called you." Adam asked as he sat down.

"Yesterday, Oh I was at Cassie's house." Faye told him.

"Cassie's? But you don't like Cassie. Why were you there?" He asked sounding annoyed.

"Cassie's not that bad, she can just be annoying." She told him defensively.

"Faye, you moan about her all the time. I'm pretty sure you hate her with a passion," Adam said smirking.

"Hate's a strong word," Faye muttered under her breath, as she took another sip of her coffee.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing," she whispered.

"Anyway what were you doing there? I thought we had plans." He asked annoyed.

"Oh did we, I forgot sorry. I like to hang out with Diana sometimes, she can be a laugh." Faye admitted.

"Diana? You like to hang out with Diana?" Adam asked sarcastically, with a big smirk on his face.

"Yeah, why what's wrong with that?" Faye asked annoyed.

"Nothing, it's just Diana. Guess I'm surprised. I don't see why you're hanging out with such a goody- goody I mean; we have so much power now. Twice as much as her, you could be doing awesome things! Not just hanging out with some goody two shoes." Adam explained.

"Shut up! Diana's alright, and anyway she's a really good friend and is really supportive," Faye argued.

"Why would you need her support? You've got me." Adam asked annoyed.

"No reason, it doesn't matter." Faye whispered, drinking more coffee and then staring out the window at the rainy sky, ignoring whatever story Adam had gone on to tell her about what he did yesterday.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Diana and Cassie were just hanging around Cassie's house not really doing anything. Cassie was looking through her box of DVDs for something to watch. _'Want to watch Doctor Who?'_ Cassie asked her sister through their mental link.

'_Don't you mean doctor House?'_ Diana asked.

"_No, Doctor Who. You've never heard of it. It's this British TV show about a time traveling alien and his companions who basically save the Earth a lot of times." _Cassie paused. _'You know it's hard to explain, but it's really good.'_

"You know I'm sure it is," Diana said switching from the link to normal "but I don't feel like watching TV. I need to do something. Just some stupid work to get my mind off of things."

Cassie sat down next to Diana. "What do you want to do then?" Cassie asked.

"I don't…" Diana paused. "You know what we could do. Go clean the abandoned house."

Cassie stared at Diana. "Why?" Cassie asked.

"Because it's messy and well we need something to do and why not," Diana asked add then switched to the mental link _'Come on Cassie. Come help me.' _

'_Fine,'_ Cassie said kind of regretting it already. _"I'll help you.'_

'_Yay, come on lets go,"_ Diana said and then jumped up ready to leave.

Cassie sat there for a minute and then followed her sister out. _'Should have watched Doctor Who.' _Cassie thought to thought to herself, but Diana called back _'I heard that.'_ Cassie smiled and then laughed as she closed the door of her house and went to the abandoned house with Diana.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Melissa just exited the front door of her house. She didn't make it far past the entrance of her front yard, though because a dark haired man bumped into her.

"Excuse me," Melissa apologized.

"Not a problem…Melissa Glaser, was it?"

She stared at the man more closely to determine if she had seen him before. She ended up shaking her head in denial. She would remember it if she saw a guy with such a devious look in his eyes combined with such a knowing smirk. She got enough of that from Mr. Sanders in their first classes.

"Yes, but who are you?" She asked.

"I am Booth," The man said as his own smirk broadens. "I am the one who told Cassie about  
Amelia's murder."

Melissa took a step back involuntarily.

"Why?" Melissa asked as if chewing the word to taste it better.

"Oh that's irrelevant my dear Melissa," He said.

Melissa didn't like how he used the word dear. It was as if he believed he owned her or that he will soon enough.

"Okay, then how do you know my name?" Melissa asked with suspicion.

"I am afraid it's too soon to answer that question properly," He said chuckling. "Suffice to say that if you know your way around magic, it isn't that hard to have eyes and ears everywhere for a long time."

"Do you enjoy being cryptic?" Melissa asked with a glare. "Or being a pain in the **?

"Somewhat," He admitted as he eyed her with interest. "Yes, that's right, get angry little witch. Strike me with it as you descend into dark magic. I would love to see what happens next."

Melissa didn't know what was happening. She was used to people taunting her but somehow she got the feeling that this guy was magically influencing her mind into getting angry so she would want to kick his **. And for a long moment, she was very tempted to give in a hurt him. Then she remembered the Nidaros code. It said she should accept her darkness, not submit to it through taunts and fight indiscriminately. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

This Booth guy actually looked disappointed. "Shame," He muttered.

"Well, I don't know how you find out, but if you know I am a witch, you should be aware that I am also from the Nidaros bloodline and because of our family code we are better at controlling ourselves," She said with a hint of pride in her voice.

Booth, however, stared at her with a mixture of shock, concern, and contempt, which started to worry Melissa. His eyes suddenly looked dangerous, almost primitively savage.

"You are a Nidaros witch?" He asked in a menacing tone.

Melissa just nodded slowly, slightly unnerved. Suddenly, she was telekinetically flung backwards until her backside hit the front door. Melissa groaned and stood up and saw Booth running toward her. Thinking quickly, she used an electro kinetic spell she read on the Nidaros Book of shadows and fired a blast of green lightning from her fingertips.

Melissa then stared in complete astonishment as to what happened next. The man just raised his bare palm and caught the electric beam as if it was no problem at all. The she felt her concentration broke as she heard a disturbingly loud scream inside her head but not with her ears, bringing her green attack to a halt. He then threw a lightning blast of his own but the color was black. Melissa screamed at the sudden pain but when she placed her hand on the wooden door, she realized the electrical pain became more bearable as wood is good at disrupting electric currents.

Summoning her pent up determination, she forced herself to stand up. She glared at the man, who looked impressed at her resilience, and push the lightning beam with telekinesis. Gritting her teeth during the struggle, she finally pushed it past her body reach and then jump off the entrance stairs and rolled to avoid the approaching beam until it collided with a garden gnome that got in his line of fire. The statue exploded but the distracting dust gave Melissa the time she needed.

She made the remaining five gnomes float with her mind and throw them at Booth. He blasted apart three of them and ducked before one but the last one smash on his chest. To Melissa's surprise, he did not collapse. Who was this witch?

The sudden attack seemed to disorient him a little though, because he didn't notice what Melissa saw behind the man's back.

"Stay away from my daughter!" Emily Glaser yelled as she hit the man in the head with a wooden baseball bat.

The bat shattered on contact but the man merely flinched at the hit, much to their surprise. He stared at Melissa's stepmom, who took a step backwards in fear. Then, to their confusion and slight outrage, the man just laughed hysterically.

"Women," He said in amusement.

Then, to their shocked eyes, he disappeared into thin air. They stood there in silence for a few moments, trying to process what happened. Then Emily ran to Melissa's side.

"Melissa, are you hurt?" Her stepmom asked worried sick.

"I think my backside is bruised," Melissa said with a grimace. "And I am still a little dazed and pained from all that electricity but I think I will be fine. Then she chuckled. "Nice swing with the bat, by the way. It was badass."

Melissa smiled wearily when her stepmom blushed slightly at the compliment. "Who was that man?" Emily ended up asking.

Melissa shook her head. "I don't really know. He said his name was Booth. I bump into him as I was leaving. He knew I was a witch and didn't bother hiding it so I ask him some stuff to know how he knew. He didn't attack me until I told him I am from the Nidaros family, though."

Emily looked horrified. "He has a grudge on the Nidaros family, then?"

Melissa shrugged and felt dizzier. She collapsed out of exhaustion but her stepmom catch her and held her firmly. She took her home and sighed with slight relief. Maybe she wasn't a witch but she was a nurse and if her baby was hurt, at least she knows what to do.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"So, what do you think?"

Faye, with an afternoon in which she had nothing to do, had gone to the mall a town over and gotten an array of new clothes. She was parading around the back room at the Boathouse, attempting to get a smile from Adam, at the very least. Or, with the was the top she had was currently riding up her stomach, maybe a make-out session on the couch. She found the she'd become less fond of kissing Adam—or being around him in general—but if she managed to get him in a good mood he might not be so harsh with her.

"Well?" she persisted, wiggling her hips at him hopefully.

Adam sighed, turning his head a fraction of an inch to look at her. "Well..." he began, like it was far too much effort to even speak to her, "it's a bit slutty, isn't it? Not like you need to attract any other guys." He shrugged. "Not like you could."

Faye felt anger seething in the pit of her stomach. Didn't he want her to look nice? Not like he cared much, anyway.

"Really," he continued, before she'd even had time to defend herself, "it's like you're desperate. Throwing yourself at anyone as long as you don't have to spend time with me." It was eerie, how his words should have been angry, but his tone made it painfully clear he didn't give a damn what she did with or without him.

"That's not fair." Faye huffed. She dropped into a chair across from him, glaring. "I spend plenty of time with you, but you just don't care about me anymore."

He shrugged again. "It's true. I mean, you'd even be happy with _Diana_—you've spent more time with her than me in the last week."

Suddenly furious, Faye gave a careless shove with magic in his direction, sending him flying off the couch. She knew almost instantaneously it was a bad idea when she saw his eyes light up with fury. He'd sat their discussing their crumbling relationship without a care in the world, but one push and his eyes glowed with murder.

"Adam, I—" she started.

It was too late. She felt a massive weight against her side, like a two-hundred pound truck had been thrown into her, and she crashed into a bookshelf. She yelped, just barely able to keep it falling on top of her. A book narrowly missed her head, banging into her legs instead.

Adam stood there, just _looking_ at her. She wasn't sure if he meant to say sorry or just lord it over her that he was three times as strong as she was, and she didn't wait to find out. She gathered her nerve and dignity, then made her way out as fast as she could.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Cassie sighed, dropping yet _another_ stack of dusty books on the table of the second floor of the abandoned house. Diana had decided they should sort through all the books they had, and maybe organize them by subject. Cassie personally thought that it would be better to leave them in the cellar.

"Have you talked to Faye recently?" Diana asked, dropping another stack and accidentally smudging dust across her cheek as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Cassie shook her head. "I don't talk to Faye much, you know that. Why?"

"Well..." Diana knew she wasn't betraying Faye's trust, but she felt like she shouldn't tell Cassie about everything that had been going on. "It's just that she's seemed so unhappy recently, and she's never around. She... she said that Adam wasn't treating her very well."

"She said it?"

"Okay, maybe she didn't outright say it, but I can tell." Diana said. "He's been so moody recently. I think something's going on with him, and he keeps taking it out on her. You know Faye, she's far too proud to actually admit it!"

Cassie sighed heavily, wiping a thick layer of grime from what appeared to be a spellbook. "I think that Faye can handle herself. You don't have to be so worried about her, she's not helpless."

Diana decided to stop arguing for the moment—or to stop before it became an argument. "That's the problem." She said, more to herself than Cassie. "No one thinks she needs protecting."

But Cassie had already gone back to the cellar.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Melissa lay comfortably on the bed under her stepmom's inspection. She had been asleep since she passed out and Emily Glaser was trying to keep her as comfortable as possible. She realized her internal organs weren't fried by the electricity so she will only have to rest.

Suddenly, the room's door opened and Patrick stormed in. "How is she?" He demanded to know.

"All things considered, quite well," Emily said grimly. "Only her quick thinking at disrupting the electric currents saved her from being fried."

Patrick stared in horror at his daughter. Melissa then stirred in her sleep and groaned as she opened her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Patrick and his wife asked in unison.

"I will be fine," Melissa said as she stretched her muscles. "I just need to rest some more."

"Who did this?" Patrick asked with a hint of anger.

Melissa yawned before answering. "He said his name was Booth. Don't know if he was saying the truth, though. He knew I was a witch so I confronted him on how he knew. It wasn't until I told him I was from the Nidaros family that he got touchy and attacked me."

Patrick narrowed his eyes. "And then?"

"And then I fought what may have very well been the most dangerous magic duel I have done," Melissa grimaced. "That guy was strong, dad, too strong. He absorbed the lightning I threw at him with his bare hands like it was nothing and when he attacked me with the same element it was at least twice as strong as the blast I fired at him. When I broke free of the beam, I smash a garden gnome in his chest and mom broke the baseball bat on his head and he still stood firm."

Patrick balked. That was not normal.

"Maybe he made his body impervious to pain with magic?" Melissa suggested.

"Or maybe he was a friend of Blackwell and that was why he doesn't like the Nidaros family?" Emily threw in.

"Or," Patrick said slowly, "he was a well-trained witch possessed by a demon," He muttered.

Melissa and her stepmom glance at each other with worry.

"Are you sure?" Melissa asked.

"No, but it would explain his resistance to pain and magic prowess," Patrick replied.

The family members stayed quiet until Emily broke the silence. "I need new garden gnomes," She pouted.

Melissa and her dad chuckled at that. "And a new baseball bat," Melissa said grinning. "That swing was great."

Emily blushed again as she remembered hitting Booth. "Well, I couldn't just let him hurt my baby."

Melissa smiled and her stepmom smiled back before hugging her.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

"No, I'm serious. Those two are trouble."

Book-cleaning had escalated into attempting to wash the dust from all the walls. Diana had noticed Cassie was unwilling to do anything, under the impression that cleanliness wouldn't bring the Circle back together. Diana knew it wouldn't, but she just thought it might be nice for their gathering place to not be coated in a foot of dust.

Diana had brought up the subject of Faye again, and how she and Adam weren't the ideal couple. That, at least, Cassie seemed to agree with.

"All Faye does when she's around him is stick her tongue down his throat." Cassie said.

Diana rolled her eyes. "No, not trouble like that. I mean that they're not good for each other.

"He was nice with me." Cassie argued. "One of the better boyfriends that I've had, actually. I think that Faye's the one who's a bad influence on him, not the other way around. He didn't start acting so moody until after they started dating."

Unbeknownst to either of the girls, Faye had just stopped outside of the door, surprised by the topic of discussion. Already hurt and angry, she felt a sort of helpless rage boiling in her stomach. Oh, of _course_ Cassie would think it was Faye's fault, since Saint Adam could do no wrong. Faye remembered all the times he talked down to her, the day he threw her across the beach into the rocks, the way he seemed to control her.

"That's not really fair." Diana said. She sounded reluctant to push Cassie, Faye noted. Probably too concerned about hurting her delicate feelings.

There was some shuffling from inside, probably someone walking away. "Faye's always been trouble, ever since I met her." Cassie said. "Okay, fine, she does care about other people sometimes, but it's usually after she's managed to screw something up. She doesn't have an excuse anymore, Diana. I think the reason Adam's so moody is because she's not nice enough to him, or because lately she's been spending all her time with you or Melissa. He probably feels ignored."

Faye bit her lip hard, forcing back her tears. It wasn't like she should feel insulted—of course Cassie hated her and thought that way. Still, it stung. Here she was, standing outside in the cold just wanting to talk to Diana, to anyone, but there was no way she'd go near Cassie. Besides, she didn't want to let on that she'd heard Cassie. False apologies were something she had no need for.

A loud thump resounded from inside. Had someone dropped something? "No." She heard Diana say. No? What was that supposed to mean?

"No?" Cassie asked, echoing Faye's thoughts.

"No." Diana repeated. 'That's completely unfair, Cassie. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be harsh, but it is. "She only acts the way she does because of how Jake hurt her. You didn't know her before him, when she was... when she was happy. Faye was one of the nicest people I knew in middle school, and when she was little."

Cassie laughed, disbelieving. "Sure."

Diana persisted. "She _was_. In second grade, we had a class where we got to hand out valentines to each other—you know, most elementary schools do that sort of thing on Valentine's day. Back then no one like me because I was shy, gangly, and awkward, so no one talked to me or gave me any valentines. That is, except for Faye. She saw me crying, so she went over to me, hugged me, and gave me a crumpled box of candy hearts. She _cared_, Cassie, she cared so much about all of us."

"What does that have to do with her now?" Cassie asked. "Maybe she was a nice kid, but most are."

"She was always like that!" Diana's voice rose, frustrated. Faye was surprised at how hard Diana was trying to defend her. "Jake screwed her up. In ninth grade he decided to take in interest in her. He was all eyes and pout, convinced her to go along with his every whim. He used her and then he left her. She was too gullible then, too gentle, and it made her go a little bit mental. That's why she acts like she doesn't care about anything, because she cares so much that it hurts. I think that everyone is too quick to assume she's fine, especially you. Adam' moodiness has nothing to do with her. He could be hurting her, for all you know, and all anyone has to say about it is that she can fend for herself, that she'll be fine." Diana huffed in frustration when she got no answer from Cassie. "You know what? I don't want to fight about this. Just... lay off Faye, please?"

Faye didn't wait for Cassie's response, just turned and started to walk away. Her chest felt just a tiny bit lighter than it had before, and she was grateful. Still, she didn't want to go in and let Diana and Cassie know she'd heard them. If they found out how scared she was, it would only be a matter of time before Adam did too.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

As soon as her parents gave her a minutes alone, Melissa called Cassie, Diana, and Faye, setting it up on her phone so all of them could talk at the same time. As soon as they answered she explained what had happened.

"He just attacked you?" Cassie asked for the hundredth time.

Melissa sighed. "Yes, and my mom helped fight him off."

"Well, that's pretty awesome for her." Diana said. "It's good that it's helping bring you two closer, even if the actual getting attacked part isn't so fun."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Melissa agreed, laughing. "What are all of you up to? I was wondering if maybe I could join you guys. I don't really want to sty home right now."

"Abandoned house." Diana and Cassie said. After a moment, Faye said, "Home."

"Are you okay, Faye?" Diana asked. Faye's voice was thicker than usual, like she'd been crying.

There was a noncommittal noise from Faye's end of the line. "Head cold, I think. Don't get your knickers in a twist, Diana, I'll be perfectly fine."

"Right," Melissa said, "So anyone mind if I joined you at the abandoned house?"

Cassie answered, "No, of course not."

"Maybe you'll join us, Faye?" Diana added, almost pleading.

Faye gave a long-suffering, "Diana-why-do-you-always-pester-me?" sigh. "Maybe. I have things to do, I might be there later tonight."

"Alright."

Everyone said their goodbyes, Melissa hung up, and then she headed out to her car.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

When Faye had gone home she'd been grateful to see her mom wasn't around, but soon the gratefulness had turned to anger. Faye was getting frustrated with herself; she hated that every little thing today was setting her off and making her unreasonably upset. Who cared if her mom wasn't home? It wasn't like she'd be willing to help Faye. It wasn't like she would want to give her advice for how to handle Adam.

Terribly confused, she left home and found herself wandering to the Boathouse instead of the abandoned house. It was as if she _wanted_ Adam to treat her like, call her names, and abuse her. What was wrong with her?

Maybe that was why, she thought miserably, hunching her shoulders against the cold. Because she was wrong, because she'd been screwed up the first time she actually tried to have a relationship.

Her mom was at a table when she walked in. Dawn grabbed Faye by the arm, roughly stopping her in her tracks. "Where have you been?" she demanded. Faye shrugged listlessly, slumping down across from her mom. "That's not an answer, Faye. You're always out somewhere lately, you grades are terrible, and you look like you're eon something."

"Of course you'd think so." Faye mumbled. She didn't have the strength to fight back.

Dawn eyes her suspiciously, leaning forward to examine her daughter's shadow-rimmed, bloodshot eyes. "You are, aren't you? Probably some sort of magical drug, isn't it?"

"I'm not on anything." Faye persisted wearily. "I'm just tired."

"You're lying." Dawn snapped. "I've noticed how you've been withdrawing. You treat me and your friend like we're worthless, you barely even go to school anymore, and I never see you anywhere! This is serious, Faye, you need to get your act together."

Faye glared at her mom, furious once again. Screw it, she thought. She had nothing to lose. "No, mom, I don't. And you know what? All of _you_ treat _me_ like crap. Just 'cause I'm bitchy sometimes doesn't mean I don't care. I'm not on anything, and I haven't gotten drunk for an entire week!" as soon as the words left her mouth, Faye knew she would regret them.

"You've been getting drunk too?!" Dawn was acting absolutely scandalized. It was clear she'd only listened to the very last thing Faye had said. "That's it, Faye. This has to stop."

"No." Faye said, petulantly. "Why should you care? You're never home, you're never around. It's not like you're actually interested win what I have to say or what's happening to me."

"I do care." Dawn said, voice like ice. "So that's why it has to stop, _now_. Otherwise..." she trailed off, as though she didn't have a sufficient enough threat.

"What?" Faye asked. "What could you possibly do to make my life any worse?"

"Otherwise you can't live at home anymore."

"What?" the seven words were like a fist colliding with her gut.

Dawn said, "You can't stay under my roof if you're going to constantly disobey and disrespect me."

"Fine." Faye was surprised to hear the words leave her mouth. Fine? She's just agreed to be homeless when there was obviously no one else int he world who would take her in?

She stormed out, catching a glance of Adam smirking at her from behind the counter. Oh, he was loving this, wasn't he? He probably thought she'd come to him for help, snivelling and begging forgiveness. Faye refused to look back at him again. That would never happen. She would go do what she could, with the hopes that her magic would keep her safe.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Melissa was putting away sponges and clothes, looking around appraisingly at the abandoned house. She'd never seen it so clean before. "We should have done this years ago."

Diana laughed. "Yeah, we should have, shouldn't we?"

Cassie on the other hand, gave a sigh of relief, collapsing on the couch. "Thank goodness we're done. I don't think I could scrub another floor."

"I've got to agree with you there." Melissa said. She started to gather her things from the table, shoving them into her bag. "So, back home?"

"That's the plan." Said Diana. "We should probably walk home together, in case you get attacked again."

They all agreed, Cassie and Diana dropping Melissa at home before heading back to Cassie's.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Enough was enough. The last few weeks of her life had gone from bad to worse and she was honestly sick of it.

As the weeks drew on Adam got more distant and he wasn't acting like himself. Her mom had just disowned and publicly humiliated her and Adam had just smirked and left her to stand there in shock before she just grabbed her bag and left.

Faye wasn't one for being emotional but it seemed like everything was too much, she had gotten to Adam's and she had cried. But her sadness had turned quickly into anger and she wanted this all to stop.

And she was going to be the one to stop it. Things weren't right, she had known that for a while but somehow Adam had been able to convince her everything was fine when it obviously wasn't. Everything that had happened today had proved that something was wrong and she had gotten herself in this mess so she would get herself out.

She had messed up, truly messed up. How had she believed all this time that Adam cared about her? Well, maybe he had at first. She felt like an emotional wreck, she had made that promise to herself to not care but obviously she cared more than she thought and look at the position it had gotten her in.

Taking a deep breath Faye stood up to compose herself. She was going to do this, she was going to make things right and screw the consequences. She was Faye Chamberlain and it didn't care what people said or did to her because she always muscled through however much it hurt.

Once she had composed herself Faye knelt down beside the bed and reached under. After a minute or so of searching she pulled out a slightly tattered looking treasure chest. She remembered that when they were little Adam had wanted to be a pirate, he loved boats and the water. All the dreams they had when they were kids seemed so normal now. Now they were all powerful witches who got in trouble every week and almost died every other.

Letting out a small sigh Faye stared at the lock and muttered "Lock Unlock."

And heard the soft click that confirmed her spell had worked. Gently she opened the top of the chest and saw the Balcoin book right on top, it was Adam's new treasure. She would find him at night reading it or practising spells like he was seriously obsessed.

Picking up the book she slid it into her bag, turning back to the chest she touched the top picture lightly with a small smile. Their parent's Circle stood there all so young and all so happy. Adam had confided in her about the chest and told him it was where he hid anything relating to his mom that he found. He had picture of all of their parents in that chest, all looking normal and happy. She assumed that was what their Circle had also looked like to people on the outside, they would never know how much they had been through.

Giving one last look to the young face of her dead father, Faye closed the truck and re-locked it before sliding it back under the bed and preparing to leave. She took all of her belongings with her, by the time Adam would notice they were gone she would hopefully have been welcomed back, maybe not with open arms, to the rest of the Circle and they could sort this mess before it got even more out of hand.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Finally getting back to the house, Cassie and Diana both flopped onto the sofa exhausted. What with the spring cleaning, in the winter, of the abandoned house, and Melissa being attacked the two had had barely any time to just sit and do nothing.

But the relaxation was short lived when there was a knock on the door, groaning Diana stood up to go get the door and a reluctant Cassie followed. After all it was her house.

And when Diana opened the door, Cassie wished she hadn't made the effort. Faye was stood on the porch with a bag and looked as pleased to be there as Cassie was for her to be there. Diana quickly greeted Faye and asked her if she wanted to come in. Faye simply nodded and Cassie heard a small "thanks" escape Faye's lips.

All three of them stood slightly awkwardly in the hall until Faye handed Cassie an old and slightly battered book. Cassie took it without a word, slightly confused. Before she or Diana could ask any questions, Faye spoke,

"It's the Balcoin book of shadows and it should have everything in there to help you get your dark magic back," she told them a hint of jealousy in her voice.

Cassie and Diana had no idea what to say and again before they could get anything out Faye spoke,

"And for your information, Jake left me and it hurts just as much this time that he walked away from me again." Her voice sounded emotionless and it partially was, she would admit to being hurt but she would never show it and she knew no one would dare bring it up in the future.

Diana and Cassie were shocked, they had no idea that anyone had been around when they were discussing the Faye and Adam situation. Diana was mortified that Faye had heard all those things after everything Faye had done for her in the past few weeks, she had even considered calling herself and Faye 'Friends' although she knew Faye would never agree to it and most likely make a sarcastic comment about the term if it was mentioned.

Cassie opened her mouth to say something but stopped, what was she suppose to say? She had been so rude and nasty about Faye when she was speaking to Diana and she had no idea Faye would hear it, Faye was never suppose to hear it. There was ways you said things to people and the way she had been talking was not the right way to do it.

" Look, Faye..." Cassie started but was cut off by Faye raising a hand,

"I know some things I have done are stupid," Faye admitted, " And I know we don't really get along, but there is a line and Adam and I definitely crossed it...and passed the moat with the tower bridge..." She stopped, "Moving on...Things need to change, back to how they were. Back to when we were a Circle not the Circle minus Faye and Adam."

"How do we know we can trust you?" Cassie asked and regretted it when she saw the look Diana gave her.

"You have the key," Faye told her looking at the book.

"What changed your mind?" Cassie asked still unsure,

"Hearing the way I was talked about by you, Adam and my Mother kicking me out." Faye said her mask fully up. Diana started to worry slightly as she heard Faye mention Adam, she had mentioned his weird behaviour at the fashion show and it seemed to have been taking an effect on Faye.

"Your mom kicked you out?" Cassie asked a little shocked, "When?"

"Around 5 minutes ago." Faye said casually.

"And you came straight here?" Cassie asked.

" No I grabbed the book from Adam's and then I came here."

"So you and Adam did steal the book?"

"No we found it on the floor." Faye said sarcastically and Diana rolled her eyes,

"Well you can stay here if you want." Diana piped up giving Faye a smile before giving Cassie a look and Cassie heard "Can't she?" in her mind and knew Cassie had no choice in the matter.

"Sure," Cassie said a little reluctantly, "But she is staying in your room." She said pointing to Diana before heading into the living room with the book.

Faye gave Diana a small smile before placing her bag at the bottom of the stairs and following Diana, who motioned to her to follow them into the living room.

Diana went to sit with Cassie and Faye was left on her own which gave her a slight daunting feeling but she didn't show it.

"I think you need to do some explaining," Diana said, "We need to know all the facts before we start running around doing spells to get our dark magic back with what happened when we lost it."

Cassie nodded in agreement and the two looked at Faye, who knew that it was coming but had no idea where to start so she blurted out the first thing that popped into her head.

"Adam kept the skull."

"What?" Diana and Cassie both said in shock and Faye simply let out a sigh.

"Adam was hiding the skull at the beach, he tried to get rid of it but apparently he couldn't."

"Why did Adam tell you?" Diana asked, "I mean he must have been keeping it all summer so when did you find out."

"Adam was acting odd," Faye said simply, "I told the rest of you it was weird and you all just ignored me," she added smugly before continuing, "I followed him and saw him with the skull. He was a little freaked out when I found out but we talked everything through and I agreed to keep it a secret."

"Wait, so that was why you starting hanging around with Adam?" Cassie asked but Diana had a small frown on her face and wasn't paying attention,

"Basically, Adam was using the skull to get bursts of power and that was all it was at first."

"At first?" Cassie asked but before Faye could answer Diana piped in,

"Wait you started hanging round with Adam about a day after you were attacked." She said.

"Yeah so?" Cassie asked intrigued by Diana's thoughts.

"I saw Adam before I got attacked," Faye said, "I was heading back home when I got attacked." She lied, why was she even lying for him anymore? She was sure that Adam wasn't himself, he hadn't been for a long time. Diana stayed quiet and Cassie looked back to Faye who remembered that the other girl had asked a question before.

"Adam thought the skull wanted something from him," she said and shook her head when both Cassie and Diana gave her weird looks, "After everything we have been through you think that is weird?" Faye asked receiving shrugs from both Cassie and Diana.

"Anyway we decided to find out what the skull wanted, stop giving me that look. So as it was linked to the Balcoin blood line we decided to find the Balcion book. Which was hidden in the basement of the abandoned house all along," Faye paused, "We saw the evil siblings steal it and planned and succeeded to steal it from them."

"Where in the basement was it?" Cassie asked and Faye looked thoughtful for a second.

"There was a hidden compartment in the floor, would be good for hiding things in the future." She told them.

"What happened after that?" Diana asked getting more curious as the story went on.

"We found some spells and tried them out until we found one that worked, but don't ask me what one because there is no way I will remember. The skull gave Adam a spell to do and assured him we would get power if we did it."

"Power from where?" Cassie asked.

"Patience," Faye told her and got a look from Diana that made her continue, "Anyway, we did the spell and the skull turned human."

"The skull turned human?" Diana asked and Faye simply nodded,

"Well Demon that looks human but it's all the same to the story. So this was about the same time you all did your fainting act."

"You took our magic?" Cassie asked sounding a little peeved.

"No, the demon was your magic." She stated and Cassie and Diana looked thoroughly confused.

"Okay short version, your family was good until Francis Balcoin your ancestor tried to rid the world of the demon. But the only way that could happen was trapping him and taking his magic into himself. Well that's how I saw it anyway."

"Wait, so what you're saying is we are part demon?" Cassie asked.

"I don't think so. The demon was trapped in your bloodline, I never asked for specifics," Faye told her, "But it was weird the demon knew everything."

"What do you mean by everything?" Diana asked starting to panic.

"Everything that happened in our lives, the demon was in you, in your heads. It knew so much about us, our personalities it was creepy."

"It was the demon that found us when we were shopping?" Diana asked shocked, the question was more or less rhetorical but Faye decided to answer anyway.

"Yes it was," She said and both Cassie and Diana turned their attention to her, "He wanted to split you all up. You are the only group powerful enough to trap him back in the skull and potential destroy him."

"But if we trap him again, we will have our dark magic back." Diana said, she had gotten used to the idea of her dark magic. But it felt like she hadn't had it for so long and she felt so much better, freer even.

"And?" Cassie questioned.

"Look, I know we sorted this issue out a long time ago but I feel so much better knowing that I can't lose control of my magic."

"But we can't let the demon roam free," Faye told them, "You have no idea what he can be like or how much influence he has over Adam. We really need to do this."

"No matter what the cost is?" Diana asked, "You don't have to have dark magic forever or a demon in your blood line that can terrorize you whenever he wants."

" No, i've just had the crap kicked out of me, lost my boyfriend for the second time, turned a skull into a demon because my new boyfriend is obsessed, been ignored by the people who are suppose to be my friends and stick by me and had my mother kick me out. No Diana I know the cost of what magic is doing to our lives," Faye finished leaving Cassie and Diana absolutely gobsmacked once again.

"Anyway, if we can get the demon back into the skull, we could try and split it into crystals and destroy any clues on how to form it so this will never happen again." Faye added

"You think we can really split the skull again?" Cassie asked and Faye simply shrugged.

"So was the demon in all of the family crystals too?" Diana asked and Faye frowned,

"I'm not sure, I think the demon can only be used if it is in skull form and has a Balcoin using it as it basically gives the demon his magic back as it filters through the skull."

Diana and Cassie looked gobsmacked but Cassie shook her head,

"But then where did our magic go?" Cassie asked,

"The demon took it back."

"And where did you get your extra magic from Faye?" Cassie asked a hint of judgement in her voice.

"Balcoin gave us some spare magic, I guess he thought it would keep us in line but something changed." Faye said.

"What changed?" Cassie asked.

"Adam." Faye and Diana said at the same time and Cassie's head whipped around to face Diana.

"How do you know?" Cassie asked her sister.

"A hunch," Diana said before her eyes shifted to Faye, who nodded, and back, "And from Faye, at the fashion show Faye stayed behind and we talked for a while."

"That's why you have been defending her? Because you knew all along that something was up." Cassie asked.

"Only since the fashion show and don't be mad." Diana said causing Cassie to laugh slightly.

"I'm not mad, a little annoyed though," she paused and Diana looked worried, "How did we not see what was really happening? I know Adam was weird and Faye and Adam together was even weirder but how did we never question it?"

"We were all hoping that after the Blackwell thing that everything would be normal." Diana answered.

"But it isn't." Faye added, "And the only way to sort that is to make things right. God, I sound like such a goodie two shoes right now." Faye moaned and the other two laughed.

"So what now?" Cassie asked and Faye simply shrugged.

"For now we relax," Diana said and Cassie raised an eyebrow, "We'll have a Circle meeting minus Adam and possibly plus Melissa's parents and talk everything over. Then we will decide what to do."

The other two nodded in agreement, it was tomorrow's problem.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Adam was livid. Why hadn't Faye shown up yet? He'd seen the spat between her and mother, so it was only a matter of time before she crawled back to him. He'd decided to let her stay with him, but to make her really beg for it first—she had thrown him off the couch for no reason, after all. He was bruised and insulted, not in the mood for easily accepting her.

He decided to look through he spell book, for something that might make her come back, or make her more agreeable. Why not? Power and magic was what made him so strong. It made sense that it would work for this.

Unfortunately for him, it wasn't there.

He wasn't sure what to do. Balcoin would be furious! It'd been so hard to get the stupid spell book, how was he going to feel to hear that they'd lost it?! Adam had a feeling that Balcoin wouldn't be very forgiving.

It had to have been Faye. She got angry at him, so she decided to take the book for herself. Fuming, he resolved to get her back for it as soon as humanly possible.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Faye and Diana were sat on Diana's bed talking and eating Ice cream. They were just relaxing and Faye was savouring the peace and finally feeling relaxed and happier. Going to Diana had been a great idea!

"Listen, thanks again for letting me stay," Faye told her for about the hundredth time.

"Faye, I've told you. Its fine both me and Cassie have agreed you're staying here." Diana told her, trying to be serious. "I'm ordering you!" She told her smiling.

"Well then I better stay." Faye agreed.

"Yeah and Cassie really is sorry about what she was saying earlier, She was just having a little rant." Diana explained.

"Oh I know its fine, Diana I'm like queen bitch I think I can handle someone talking a little bit bitchy about me." Faye said smirking.

"Yeah I guess you are." Diana agreed.

"God this Ice cream is good! I love Ben & Jerry's!" Faye exclaimed a big smile on her face as she ate a load of Ice cream. Diana smiled and did the same.

"So do you want to talk about what happened with Adam and your mum?" Diana asked her.

"Not really, not now anyway. I'll tell you some other time or Adam will I don't doubt. He heard everything she said to me." Faye told her.

"Okay, don't worry about him. I could talk to him for you and I've already told you, you can stay here as long as you need too. Don't worry, it'll be fun!" Diana told her.

"Yeah, it will be better then living at home anyway. Now how about we stick a movie on?" Faye asked.

"Sure, sounds great. I'll go and ask Cassie if she wants to join us. You can pick a film" Diana said as she got up and headed to Cassie's room.

**TSC~TSC~TSC~TSC**

Balcoin teleported back to the Lake and the first thing he did was to keep on laughing.

"By the darkness, I love this town," He chuckled. "It certainly is not boring," He cackled as he thought of that mortal hitting him with a baseball bat. The thought that a simple insect had the courage to do that to him was simply so funny he couldn't kill them yet so he left.

He breathed deeply and smirked. It had been a very long time since he got a decent fight, not since his showdown with Francis. True, Melissa was nowhere near as skilled as Francis and he could have crushed her if he had chosen to stay but there was something about her that caught his attention. The sheer determination in her eyes even as he was electrocuting her.

"A Nidaros witch," Balcoin muttered thoughtfully. "She could have been lying but I believe her. She most certainly has the Nidaros fire in her character."

The ageless demon frowned. Of the four original light magic families the Nidaros were always the ones that worried him the most. True, the Sunwalkers were the most powerful of the four and the Nidaros were merely slightly behind the Meade family, which gives them the fourth place but they made up for that by being the most unpredictable of them all. Balcoin simply could not read the family members as he had encountered them over the millennia. Just when he thinks he knows how they will behave, they always pull out something that surprises him, usually in a bad way.

Balcoin recalled the encounter he had with Mary, the most powerful Nidaros he encountered, around 500 years earlier. He had recently escaped his crystal cage and arrived to England. But when he finally arrived to Stonehenge to fulfill his plan, he was attacked by Francis. The British heir to the Nidaros bloodline was astonishingly great at healing magic, capable of healing severe wounds Balcoin gave Francis almost instantly. Then, while Francis kept the Ancient One busy, Mary was the one that finished casting the spell that would seal Balcoin inside Francis.

After that, the two friends' part ways but they would meet again, 20 years and hundreds of murders later. By then they were both Elders and while no longer on their physical prime, Mary became ridiculously powerful and skilled in a wide variety of magical branches. Even after Balcoin compelled the now-evil Francis into attacking his friend, Mary repelled every spell and form of attack they threw at her.

However, it was the big finale that stunned Balcoin. She channeled immense power from the Spirit World and then combined those vast energies with intense dark magic. The two different magical aspects combined within her like Twin Rivers. The last thing Balcoin saw with Francis eyes was Mary glowing in a flash of grey right before a massive explosion of magical energy obliterated his first host.

Balcoin survived by following the bloodline to Francis´ son but he was awed like he had never felt in his many tens of thousands of years of age. He had no idea witches could wield that kind of raw power. And it wasn't only the might of the spell; it was the look on Mary's eyes. Even though she obviously channeled a great deal of dark magic, her face was completely at peace. She succeeded in finding the balance between the two opposing forces of magic and unleashed its sheer power in its purest form. Balcoin wondered if that had something to do with the Nidaros code, Melissa mentioned, which sounds like a code of conduct.

As the demon snapped out of his thoughts, he realized that for the first time since he was reawaken; his plans were well and truly hanging in the balance. With Melissa representing the Nidaros family, should the circle discover how to recreate the spell that imprisoned him inside the Skull, they have enough witches to pull it off.

In the end, though, he decided to let her live, if only for the time being.

"Samhein is fast approaching anyway," Balcoin remind himself. "The wait is almost over. If they force my hand, I will kill her without hesitation but every king needs an army, and every army needs a general. When the ritual is done, sooner or later, all of these witches will bow before me and if Melissa has the potential within her to replicate the insanely powerful magic that destroyed Francis, she might as well become my general."


	21. Preparations

**ATTENTION: We're very sorry about the lateness, of this, many of the writers have been busy lately with work and exams. Also, expect the season finale around mid-March, as we're still preoccupied with real-life stuff. **

**Also, if you check out my profile you can find a link for a TSC roleplay that we run, and an absolutely BRILLIANT trailer that Marril96 made for us!**

**Many thanks to CelloChick90, our editor :)**

**Plotline writers – Forcystus5, flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B**

**Writers –, Forcystus5, CharmedMilliE, ilove2dance, witch-witha-B, TtylerMaria**

**Editors – flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B, Your Sister. Duh**

**Graphic Designers – xleamalfoyx, Charlene F.**

**Twitter Account – ImaGleekBaby, flower gettin' lady**

**Tumblr Account – witch-witha-B**

**The twitter account is TSC_Project and the tumblr account is The Secret Circle Project. We also have a****facebook page****, you can find it by searching The Secret Circle Project..**

**Disclaimer: We don't own The Secret Circle**

Episode 21 – "Preparation"

Melissa checked her phone as she walked down the street purposefully. She already had two texts from Diana, and a voice message from Cassie. She selected it.

"Hi, Melissa, it's Cassie. Are you going to get here soon? Everyone else is here – I had the Balcoins come over too, since I figured that would be easier. Call me."

Melissa decided to text her instead, saying she'd be there but being vague about where she was at the moment. Sanders seemed to know far more about magic than anyone in the Circle, so she thought it would be good to have him there. Besides, if he turned out to be evil, there would be eight of them and one of him. It wasn't like they could be overpowered.

She knocked at his door, waiting until he opened it. The place smelled like he was cooking dinner. "Yes, Melissa, what can I do for you?"

"Right." She began. "Everyone's going to Cassie's house since we finally have Balcoin's Book of Shadows. I was thinking maybe you would want to come along…? You could try and make yourself useful, in case we needed anything explained."

He immediately got that look in his eyes, of a person who lived for this sort of thing; new spell books, artifacts to look at, new things to learn about. "I'd love to. Do the others know?"

Melissa shook her head. "No, but it's not like it matters. There will be a lot more of us than you, so I'm sure I can convince them you're no threat, and easily overpowered."

"All right, then I'll go." Sanders said, grabbing his coat from the closet and joining her outside.

**TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC **

After a few near-death blows with magic and threats from Faye, Melissa managed to convince everyone that she'd asked Sanders to come with her, and that he wasn't going to hurt anyone.

"Look," She said, in the voice she usually reserved for Faye when she was about to get into trouble, "There's a lot of us here, so if he decides to turn on us we can overpower him easily enough. Besides, we might need his knowledge."

Cassie and Diana relented, and after a few angry glances so did Jake and Faye. The Balcoin sibling didn't seem to have any opinion either way.

"Good, so you'll all behave." Melissa concluded. "Faye?"

"Well…" Faye started, not sure if she really wanted to tell them everything. "At the end of summer I found out that Adam still had the skull. Apparently he'd been entranced by it, or something, and he had it buried on the beach. I found out about it one day—he completely freaked, like he was possessed. I think that maybe he was, that it had some sort of power over him. In the end he let me use it too, and it gave us bother power."

She glanced guiltily at the Balcoins. "We stole the Book of Shadows from you to release Balcoin from the skull. He ordered us to, and when he was out he promised that we would have power if we helped him. He also made us destroy everything in Sander's house. Sorry, by the way."

Sanders, who had been patiently listening like everyone else, turned an unattractive shade of red. "You were the ones who did that?!"

"Sorry." Faye mumbled again. "He made us do it, there wasn't really a choice."

"There's always a choice!" Sanders shouted, advanced towards her. "You could have just told him the deal was off, and left!"

"He might've hurt me!" Faye snapped, but she sounded more afraid than angry.

Diana put herself between the two, glaring at Sanders. She remembered the night Faye had come to her, covered in cuts and bruises. She had something very real to be afraid of, and Sanders had no right to accuse her. In Faye's mind there'd been no way out. "Leave her alone. Balcoin is stronger than all of us, I'm sure if you were in her place you wouldn't listened to him."

Faye nodded. "I thought there wasn't a way out."

Sanders relented, sitting back down on the couch. He was still furious that all of his things had been destroyed, but Faye was only a teenager, after all. He knew that dark magic was a strong influence, and that it wasn't really her fault.

"Anyway," Faye continued, "He had us doing everything for him. I think Adam's been influenced more than me, because when I started to pull away from Balcoin he stayed closer. I stole the Balcoin book back from Adam, though, so maybe that will help. If there was a way to bring Balcoin out of the bloodline, then there has to be a way to get him back in."

Sanders agreed, asking, "Can I see the book? I can try to find it."

It was handed over reluctantly, and they started searching.

**TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC **

Faye kept herself out of the way as the Circle all but surrounded Sanders, it weird how all of a sudden everyone trusted him. But Faye couldn't really care less about the drama, she just wanted it all to be over and go back to the way things were during summer.

To Faye the Circle seemed way too cosy without herself and Adam, she guessed they deserved it a little but now sitting on the outskirts while things happened without her Faye realised how screwed up the situation really was.

Unfolding her arms Faye pushed herself away from the wall she had been leaning on and headed for the kitchen, all this Circle meeting stuff was giving her a headache. Once in the kitchen she quickly found a glass and filled it with water. Taking a sip of her water she watched out the window but kept an ear out for anyone calling her name.

Jake had seen Faye slip from the room and was immediately suspicious, who could blame him? He knew what Faye was like. Quickly and quietly, Jake also snuck from the room following Faye a frown on his face. What if this was all a set up? What if Faye got them to call a Circle meeting so that she and Adam could do something to the whole Circle? They had already taken the Balcoins power and that had almost killed Cassie and Diana.

Walking into the kitchen he saw Faye with her back to him at the sink. Leaning against the doorframe he watched for another second,

"What are you doing?" He asked folding his arms over his chest.

Faye jumped as she heard the voice but then rolled her eyes, Jake was always so suspicious. Turning around slowly she held up the glass of water in her hand,

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she asked and Jake simply shrugged.

"What it looks like you're doing and what you are actually doing are two different things." He told her, he wasn't going to let her get away without answering him.

Faye just rolled her eyes,

"You're too suspicious of people," she told him with a shrug, she couldn't be bothered to have this out with Jake she was tired and she had a headache.

"But just so you know I've filled this glass with poison and I was thinking of giving it to Cassie" Faye told him sarcastically.

"Don't joke around Faye." Jake told her his face hardening slightly, why did she always have to make light of serious matters? Sometimes it was good to lighten the mood but other times it was annoying.

"Why not?" She asked him, "You seem so sure I'm ready to kill someone, so why not give you a motive to watch my every move."

"I'm not watching your every move." Jake told her and Faye rolled her eyes again,

"But you were the only one who saw me go into the kitchen," she said giving him a disbelieving look, "And you're not a good liar." She added as she went to move away from the sink and go back to the other room. Talking with Jake was really not helping her in any way.

Moving past Jake she didn't expect him to reach for her arm, causing a shooting pain. Faye flinched and Jake was pushed back by her magic. Turning around she saw the confusion on Jake's face, what had she just done? Why was her arm hurting? And then she remembered her fight with Adam the day before and had to stop herself from cringing, she probably had bruises all over her side.

Frowning Jake quickly got over his confusion and watched Faye, he had been told that Faye and Adam had the Balcoins magic but he didn't expect her to be using it on them and it seemed like Faye hadn't intended it either. But obviously Jake touching her arm had set things in motion,

"Faye..." Jake said slowly and a little cautiously, they all knew what dark magic could do to someone.

"Don't 'Faye' me Jake." She told him moving towards the door but Jake was too fast for her. Before she reached the door, Jake was in front of it and Faye stopped pretty much glaring at him, "What do you want?" She asked.

"Your arm," Jake said simply and watched as Faye rose an eyebrow obviously waiting for him to continue, "Why was it then when I touched you arm you almost threw me across the room?" He asked a hint of accusation in his voice.

"You scared me," Faye said with a small shrug, "You don't just grab people when they aren't expecting it"

"You're not a good liar," Jake said repeating her words from earlier and Faye just rolled her eyes again,

"Whatever you say Jake," she told him, "I haven't got the energy to fight with you." She said trying to move around him to the door but Jake wasn't going to give in that easily, something was up and he would find out what.

"You can go when you tell me what's wrong with your arm."

"So, what? You're going to hold me hostage until I come up with some lie that you are more likely to believe? I don't think so Jake."

"Shall I go ask Adam then? See if he knows what's wrong." Jake said and Faye just nodded,

"Sure, and when he starts a fight because he wants the book back what are you gonna do Jake? You can't fight someone with dark magic."

"I can try." Jake told her that look on his face that proved to Faye he would do it,

"Have fun getting killed." Faye told him, she knew that Jake wouldn't go because his precious Cassie wouldn't let him

"Adam wouldn't kill anyone," Jake told her, "He wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Our Adam wouldn't," Faye muttered but Jake heard it

"What do you mean?" Jake asked a little concerned to hear what the answer was. Faye simply shook her head.

"It's nothing, it doesn't matter." Faye told him, but Jake had a feeling he knew what would be coming.

"First you say that I would get killed by Adam and now you are saying our Adam like he isn't even Adam anymore..."

"So what if he isn't the old Adam?" Faye asked she was getting sick of all the questions, she didn't want to talk about this.

"The magic?" Jake asked a frown on his face and Faye shrugged,

"Dark magic can change the best of people." She told him and Jake frowned looking at her, Faye hadn't changed not really.

"But you haven't changed," Jake told her and Faye let out a small laugh.

"I haven't had the magic that long, Adam's had it all summer."

"All summer?" Jake questioned before shaking his head, he had been distracted all summer not seeing what was going on around him, "He was acting weird." Jake admitted and Faye just made a disbelieving sound, now everybody noticed that Adam had been weird but no one cared when Faye had noticed it.

Jake looked thoughtful and Faye didn't want to say anything she wanted to just slip out of the kitchen and upstairs to bed. But when she moved Jake also moved too and pushed the sleeve of her cardigan down revealing a bruise on her shoulder and arm.

Faye looked at it a little disbelieving, had she really hit the book shelf that hard? She knew she had a bruise on her leg from one of the books that fell on her but she could easily blame that on walking into something.

Faye could see the anger on Jake's face and moved the cardigan back to cover the bruise, now she knew she couldn't get away.

"What is that?" Jake asked his voice a little to calm compared to the look on his face.

"What does it look like Jake?" Faye responded instantly, she knew she probably shouldn't have provoked him but it was her defence mechanism.

"Faye..." Jake said the anger starting to come out in his voice.

"What?" She responded a little irritated now, he knew what it was and he probably knew round about how it had happened and why.

"Tell me what happened." He told her and Faye just shook her head, he was unbelievable sometimes.

"Why?" She snapped at him, "Because you cared so much the last time I was hurt?" she asked not knowing why she was even doing this, it was like word vomit. Faye was so sick of the situations she got herself in and how her life was going and now she felt like she was going to explode.

"What?" Jake asked a frown forming on his face.

"Last time Adam hurt me you couldn't care less that I was hurt you just yelled at me because I wouldn't tell anyone what happened. You don't give a crap about anyone but yourself!" Faye said her voice rising in volume as she spoke.

Once she finished her hand flew to cover her mouth and her eyes wide, she had to open her mouth didn't she? Faye could see the realisation appear on Jake's face as he connected the dots in his head.

"Damn it Faye." He said angrily before turning and banging the palms of his hands against the wall.

**TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC **

"What I want to understand is, if Balcoin believes we are a threat to him why hasn't he just come after us to kill us?" Lucas asked. "Other than his attack on the kind witch…"

"My name is Melissa," The witch in question said a little annoyed.

"Whatever," Lucas rolled his eyes. "Point is, he has had almost a month to slaughter us and he hasn't. Just what the hell is he waiting for?"

There was a long silence as the witches consider it until a gasp was heard. All heads turned toward Sanders, who was reading the Balcoin Book of Shadows with wide eyes.

"What is it?" Diana asked.

Mr. Sanders looked up slowly from the pages, and the Circle became concerned when they saw his face grow paler.

"I think I found out Balcoin's endgame," He said in a hoarse voice.

"It's written in the book?" Cassie asked, incredulous that it would be so easy to figure out Balcoin's diabolical master plan.

"Yes, but it's written in French, which I happen understand, and it was written by Francis´ wife," Sanders explained. "Apparently it was a warning for future generations about the demon trapped inside their bloodline, to explain what made Francis desperate enough to curse his family to prevent Balcoin from achieving his goals. I would assume the warning was eventually lost to the future generations when they moved to America and stopped practicing French, though."

All six siblings glance at each other before asking Sanders to explain further. He took a deep breath and translated.

"November 1st, 1508 A.D; Amesbury, England," Sanders recited. "The Dark Portal has been closed. My husband Francis and his old friend Mary Nidaros have succeeded in containing Balcoin during their battle at Stonehenge, yet at a terrible cost that will surely plague our family for generations to come. My dear Francis was forced to take all the darkness of the oldest Ancient One inside his own magical bloodline and to ensure Balcoin will not escape, new generations of the bloodline need to keep coming or else the most powerful demon the world had ever known shall break free if no more Sunwalkers are left to be vessels of his dark power."

Sanders paused and waited a moment for them to process that before going onwards.

"I know that any descendants of ours reading my notes must be wondering why my Francis absorbed Balcoin," Sanders continued. "Why he tainted his family's blood with unspeakable darkness. The answer is, as unbelievable as it may be, that it was the lesser of the two evils. If my husband hadn't taken the burden last night, this morning would have marked the beginning of a world swallowed by darkness. The oldest of all demons was plotting to channel the magical energy of the hotspot Stonehenge, to open the Dark Portal. If he had succeeded, he would have changed the currents of magical energy witches can access to perform spells and overwhelm them with darkness. In other words, Balcoin was planning to alter the very fabric of magic itself with darkness in order to corrupt every witch in the world with Dark magic and bring about an era of horror and bloodshed," Sanders explained somberly.

Everyone gasped and stared at Sanders terrified. "Balcoin wants to make every witch on the planet a slave of dark magic?" Diana asked aghast.

Sanders nodded with a stone-hard serious expression. "It gets worse."

"How can this get any worse?" Diana asked in shock, scarcely able to believe that she helped Balcoin in such a terrible mission.

"The warning says that Balcoin tried to do this ritual 505 years ago, during Samhain," Sanders recalled. "That is an ancient name for Halloween. And what day is today?" He demanded.

"October 30th," Claire said in a chocking tone. "You're saying Balcoin will try to do this again _**tomorrow**_?"

"I hate to say it but it most definitely seems like it," Sanders said grimly. "October 31st can be a very dangerous night for witches. It is the one night of the year that the barrier that separates the Spirit World and the Earth are weak enough for both light and dark magic to influence it directly and tap its virtually unlimited power. In theory, affect it on a massive scale that night with a proper ritual can be beneficial for the world at large as light magic also gets strengthen. For instance, several decades ago, there was a witch that used that power to prevent a volcano from producing a devastating eruption which would have otherwise vaporized his home-city," He explained. "However, this is the most evil and powerful demon we are talking about. If he were to access that much raw power and infect it with his utterly dark magic, I am sure he could accomplish his task."

Dylan swallowed. "That must have been why he didn't kill us. He doesn't want us dead. He wants us all to be his dark magic slaves and if he gets this done, we will become just that."

Everyone paled at the seriousness of the situation. Melissa on her part bit her bottom lip as she realized that must have been why Balcoin said "dear Melissa" like if he owned her. Even Lucas and Ryder were disturbed by the news.

"Is there a way to prevent this?" Diana asked, wishing she would not have to taint her blood again.

Sanders sighed. "Francis wife left more notes in French. I will see what I can find."

**TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC **

A second later, Diana walked in quickly a frown on her face, "What the hell is going on in here?" she asked.

"Nothing, Jake's just on his period." Faye said crossing her arms over her chest and keeping her face neutral hoping Jake wouldn't say anything.

Diana simply raised an eyebrow at Jake who was trying to keep calm but Faye being so blasé about it was just annoying him more,

"Show her Faye." Jake said simply the anger still coming out in his voice.

"Show me what?" Diana asked looking from Faye to Jake, who seemed to be having a staring competition across the room to see who would crack first.

"Fine," Jake said finally cracking, "Do you want me to tell her what he's been doing?" Jake asked gritting his teeth together as he spoke, he couldn't even say Adam's name right now.

Faye just stayed quiet and Diana starting putting two and two together, she knew immediately who Jake was talking about and her mind just came up with the worst possible scenario.

"Faye...?" Diana said quietly, she really didn't want to push Faye to tell her what was going on. She felt that the way Jake was forcing her wasn't right but if it really was that bad then maybe Faye really did need to tell them.

Faye kept up with her neutral facade, she would not let Jake crack her. Not about this, this wasn't some silly magic trick she had done or some lie she had told this was serious and she hadn't been ready for anyone to find out about it.

"Faye, tell her or I will." Jake told her and Diana span to look at him and pointing,

"Jake back off," she said and Jake raised his hands in surrender before moving away and leaning in the corner watching Diana and Faye. Diana then turned back to Faye, "Do you want to tell me what Adam did or do you want me to talk to Jake?" Diana asked quietly, if Faye didn't want to talk about it then she would let her off.

Faye felt a little like she was backed into a corner, she either told Diana what happened or Jake was. Why hadn't she stopped Jake from finding out? Looking at Diana, she knew Diana wouldn't explode like Jake had, she wasn't scared of Diana finding out. Faye looked over at Jake for a second before pushing the shoulder of her cardigan down, showing the bruise.

Diana gasped quietly and Faye saw Jake look away out of the corner of her eye. After a second she pulled it back up and waited for someone to say something.

Diana had assumed that it was something like this that had been going on, after what Faye had said at the fashion show and the way she had been acting the last few weeks. But to have proof that it had actually happened was like a kick in the gut, there was something really weird going on.

"What happened?" Diana finally asked. Faye was quiet for a second before responding,

"We had an argument and things got a little heated and the magic took over. Adam has a lot more than me so he was stronger, I only shoved him but he sent me flying into the book case." Faye told them before crossing her arms over her chest like a defence.

"But it's not the first time he's lost control," Jake said and Diana turned to look at him, "He was the one who attacked Faye before not the other Balcoins."

**TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC **

Diana stood in the kitchen, after what she had just found out she was more determined than ever to help Faye out.

"That's it you're staying here, and not leaving," Diana told Faye.

"What? Diana you're already doing so much for me..." Faye started to say

"I know it's because I want to help. You're staying here where you're safe. I'm not having Adam coming after you or hurting you again, ever. I can't believe he's done that too you, but he is and I'm going to make sure he never does it again. I promise, you'll be okay now. I don't want you to have to ever go through that again, no one does. We'll keep you safe, regardless of what Cassie says she wouldn't want you getting hurt. So you listen to me from now on you're living with us. It doesn't matter how long for." Diana cut Faye off to explain.

"Are you sure though?" Faye asked her.

"Of course I am." Diana assured her.

"Thanks Diana, I really don't know what I'd do without you. You've been amazing lately, I can't thank you enough." Faye told her.

"What you guys talking about?" Cassie asked as she walked in, and started to make a drink.

"Just telling Faye how she needs to stay with us, for as long as she wants." Diana explained

"She needs somewhere that she's safe," Jake told her from the corner of the room. Where he'd been standing and listening to everyone talk as he tried to come to terms with what Faye had told him.

"She's staying even longer; don't you think it's getting a bit cramped here?" Cassie moaned.

"No, don't worry she's staying in my room anyway. It's fine." Diana told her.

"Okay then," Cassie agreed unhappily, before pausing on her way out.

"Thank you, really I don't know why you're being so nice," Faye said.

"Because you need my help, and anyway you're not as mean as you pretend to be!" Diana joked.

"Thanks Diana," Faye told her again. She walked over and pulled Diana into a hug, to say thank you.

"It's okay, you're safe now." Diana whispered in to her ear.

"I know," she whispered back, smiling properly for the first time in ages.

"Okay, I have a question," Cassie said from near the doorway, "Everyone keeps saying about Faye needing to be safe, am I missing something?"

"We've all been missing something." Jake said the tone in his voice telling he was going to lose his temper again.

"Jake, you are not helping." Diana told him her voice firm and Cassie frowned, Diana never spoke to anyone like that unless it was serious and Faye was being unusually quiet.

Before anyone could say anything Cassie spoke,

"Will someone tell me what is going on?" Cassie asked slightly annoyed. Diana gave her a slightly sympathetic look before taking a breath.

"Adam is in a lot more trouble than we first guessed," Diana said carefully, she wasn't sure that this information would go down well with Cassie and with Jake in the room it was hard to tread carefully around the subject without hurting anyone.

"Do not defend him Diana." Jake said receiving a look from Diana,

"Jake, I am handling it," Diana told him before looking back to Cassie who looked a mixture of worried and frustrated, "Adam has been possessed, shall we say, for a while. He was the one who hurt Faye during the first couple of weeks of school and he did it again yesterday." Diana said and stood watching her sister carefully.

"This has to be a joke, right?" Cassie asked looking from Diana to Jake and then to Faye. Diana looked to Faye and they seemed to have a silent conversation before Diana eased down the shoulder of Faye's cardigan to show Cassie.

Hearing Cassie's gasp and Jake muttering before he turned to kick the cupboard, Faye pulled the sleeve back up. Taking a breath Cassie looked from Faye to Diana,

"She stays, but maybe you should let the others know without Jake around," She suggested her voice a little shaky, "Adam is just as big of a threat as Balcoin, now we know what he is capable of"

"Which is why I'm going to kill the bastard." Jake said.

"No!" Was the loud reply from all three witches as they all gave Jake the same look.

**TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC **

"I can't believe this!" Jake fumed, as Diana led Faye out of the kitchen. "I don't care if she doesn't want me going after Adam, I'm going to find him and rend him, limb from limb!"

"Do you really think that's the best idea?" Cassie asked him, motioning with her hands from him to keep it down. "It's past, and besides, Adam is possessed. You know he wouldn't do anything to hurt her in his normal state."

"I don't care." Jake said, forcing himself to calm down. "She's been stuck in… in an abusive relationship with him. I should have noticed something! I used to know her better than anyone, so why didn't I notice?"

Cassie sighed. "We all have our own problems, Jake. Besides, I kept you pretty occupied most of the time. "

Cassie listened patiently as he kept beating himself up, saying that he should have seen the signs—Faye avoiding them all except for Diana, and not being as defensive as she usually was. Cassie very rarely saw him get that worked up over anything, aside from personal attacks against those he cared about.

"This has really got you upset, hasn't it?" She interrupted regretfully.

Jake stopped his tirade to squint at her, confused. "Well… yeah, of course it does."

"You really care about her."

"I… oh." The realization dawned in his face. "Yeah, I do."

Cassie hated what she knew she was going to have to do, but she said, "I know, and I understand. Jake, I think… I think that maybe we should take a break for a while."

"Cassie…"

"No, really." She persisted. "It's obvious that you care about Faye. The only reason you two split up in the first place was because of Balcoin, and Adam. That's done now, so there's no reason that you two shouldn't…" she trailed off, unsure as to how she should phrase it.

"Maybe we should try again?" He suggested.

Cassie nodded. "Yeah, exactly. And if it doesn't work out…. Well, I'll always be here."

Jake laughed, smiling weakly. "I wouldn't say that. I'm sure that you'll be taken in days."

"I'm glad to hear you think so." Cassie said, grateful that taking a break might not be so hard. "Now, why don't you go find Faye and talk to her? It's either that, or go to work."

"Later." He said. "After we sort everything out, I will talk to her, I promise."

The two grinned at each other, and left the kitchen arm-in-arm.

**TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC **

"I think that, with the right ingredients, I can find a way to seal Balcoin into the bloodline." Sanders told the group, as Cassie and Jake entered the room. "If I just get the right ingredients—"

"Sorry, you're going to put him back?" Diana repeated. "I don't want dark magic anymore."

"You don't?" Although relieved, Sanders was also surprised that Diana would give up so much power. As for the Balcoin siblings, they shifted uncomfortably, as though they wanted to object but weren't sure how. "Well, of course you don't."

"There isn't any way to just… dispose of him?" Cassie asked.

Sanders shook his head. "No, but I hadn't finished yet. I think I can seal him without actually making him a part of your bloodline. I'll just need some of the rarer herbs, preferably from Calvin's shop, and blood from the original light magic families."

"And that'll fix it, just like that?" asked Melissa.

"Sort of." He said. "I'll need to do the ritual at high noon, so I can channel the sunlight, and I'll also need something to channel the sunlight. That would be the tricky ingredient of the list, though."

"What do you need?" Claire asked curiously.

"A magical artifact design to amplify light magic to extremely high heights," Sanders replied.

When the message sunk in, everyone glanced at Faye in annoyance while she stepped backwards. Sanders sighed.

"Don't blame her, even if she hadn't ruined my collection I didn't use to have an amplifier of the necessary caliber the ritual demands," Sanders stated. "The level the artifact has to be is not easily found."

"Then what?" Diana asked frustrated.

Sanders was silent for a long moment, as if considering all possible scenarios with the knowledge he had. Then, he hit the floor softly with his feet in almost involuntarily nervousness.

"I have a confession to make," He said.

Everyone narrowed their eyes but let him speak.

"I have a rival in my witch archeologist profession," He admitted. "His name is Rene Talbot."

"So you think he has what we need?" Cassie asked.

"I _know _he has what we need," Sanders said grimly. "I fought him over the rights to claim that artifact almost 2 years ago but he got away."

"He is stronger than you when you had your artifacts?" Melissa asked surprised.

Sanders shook his head. "Talbot is a pureblood witch. Technically, that makes him stronger than me but I kept three times as many magical artifacts than he, because when he finds a magical object he doesn't wish to keep, he sells it, to the highest bidder, even if they turn out to be witch hunters," Sanders said in distaste.

Everyone looked a little disgusted by that information. That Talbot sounded like a traitor to his own kind.

"However, what worries me the most, is the way he escaped the last time we met," Sanders continued. "We were fighting in the ancient Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan, over an artifact called the Orb of the Sun, the most powerful light magic amplifier ever recorded within Native American history," He explained. "After nearly an hour of fighting and chasing him all over the ruins, I finally cornered him at the top of the massive pyramid complex known as the Temple of the Sun, and eventually managed to penetrate his magical shield. But, before I could knock him out cold and take the Orb, what I suspect to have been his boss showed up and put me to sleep with magic. Before I lost consciousness, I realized that Talbot's leader was a relative of Balcoin," Sanders said grimly.

After a moment of shocked silence, Faye closed her gawking mouth before opening it again. "That thing has a family?" She asked in disbelief.

"Well," Sanders sighed, "the witches, shamans and folkloric experts who know of them still debate that very question. Regardless, whether they are blood relatives or simply beings of a nearly extinct race, those demons are classified as the Ancient Ones, who dominated prehistoric humans and lesser demons before the rise of human civilization in Egypt. Aside from that, I only know they are very evil and very, _very _powerful."

"How did you know he was an Ancient One?" Jake asked, interested to know for signs to recognize.

"Well, I sensed his magical presence when I saw him and was shocked at how dark and evil the being was at his very core," The half-witch explained. "That and he dressed far creepier than Balcoin," Sanders said in a shudder. "He had black robes that cover his body, a mask made of bones and soulless red eyes."

Melissa swallowed hard at that description. It matched almost perfectly with the last vision she had when she unlocked the Nidaros half of her magical potential. She snapped out of her thoughts when Sanders continued.

"At any rate, that's the only option I can think of," Sanders said. "We need to get the Orb of the Sun."

"How?" Ryder asked. "Do you even know where Talbot is?"

Sanders shook his head. "However, with some help from you, I might be able to use the unique power the Spirit World has over the fabric of space and teleport him to the abandoned house to interrogate him."

"You can do that?" Claire asked in surprise.

"Not alone," He clarified. "With your help, though, maybe I could."

The Circle and the siblings looked at each other before nodding in acceptance.

**TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC **

Mr. Sanders continue to pour more of the pitch black powder-like substance in a circle around the chair until he finally finished connecting the lines. He stood straighter and return to the side of the slightly nervous witches.

"Are you sure that line of iron sulfate will be able to hold him?" Diana asked. "You told us this rival of yours is quite powerful."

Sanders shrugged. "I am never sure when it comes to Talbot and yes summoning him here might be risky but we are in a tight schedule and I have no idea who else could have another light magic amplifier of the same caliber as the Orb of the Sun. We have to try."

The Circle and the half-siblings glanced at each other for a moment before nodding. "How does this spell work?" Cassie asked.

Sanders walked close to the table of the Abandoned House where they keep most of the plants. "The Spirit world is a magical realm separated from this dimension, created by nature back in the dawn of life itself," He began. "After years of study, I have learned how to connect the magic from my weak core to the magic realm in order to tap its bottomless reserves of power so that..."

"I don't get it," Faye interrupted flatly.

Faye gulped when she saw the momentary glare Sanders threw at her. She had to remember that she was the one who cut him off from his major sources of power. He may be willing to help them against the common enemy that is Balcoin, but he was still angry and bitter at her and rightly so. Not being mad would be the scandalous thing.

"What don't you get?" Sanders asked in a controlled voice.

"Uh, why is it that the Spirit World has unlimited power," She replied.

"Well, that's because the magic dimension gets its power from any life form alive and those yet to be born," Sanders explained. "However, when there is a massive rate of simultaneous deaths in a relatively small area, the shamans that are in current connection to the Spirit World might have their reception interrupted because those sudden deaths weaken their connection temporarily. For instance, back in the final days of World War II, when huge chunks of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were obliterated in seconds because of nuclear bombs, many shamans reported a sudden loss of power when they tried to connect to the Spirit World. As far as I know, however, only if the Earth would be completely and utterly devoid of any and all forms of life because of a catastrophe could the Spirit World be destroyed."

"Moving on," He continued, "as I was saying, even without my artifacts, I am capable of connecting my magic with the Spirit World. At first, I could only do small things with the energy transfer but after 12 years of training I mastered the ability to fold the fabric of space with the aid of the magic realm in order to teleport objects or beings from one place to another; as the separate dimension doesn't have the same concept of space-time Earth does. Nevertheless, without the vast power of my artifacts, I cannot do that by myself," He said, trying not to glare at Faye. "Like I once told your siblings, Cassie, even if the Spirit World has endless amounts of power to channel, there is a limit to how much the human body can absorb without imploding. I will establish the connection necessary to access the power but after that I am going to need Melissa to help me manage the power surge."

Everyone looked at Melissa. "Why me?" She asked confused.

Sanders stared at her in disbelief. "You don't know the greatest strength of your Glaser heritage?"

Melissa blinked. Admittedly, she had been paying more attention to her Nidaros heritage recently. Even though she also had her mother's Book of Shadows, she hadn't really read many pages. Sanders sighed and explained.

"The Glaser family is practically royalty in the shamanist society," He revealed. "The magical bloodline may be under 700 years old, which makes it quite young by the standards of the rest of your Circles families and weak in terms of direct power from your magical core but when it comes to shamanism, the Glaser witches rule the field. Your ancestors did so many rituals in communion with nature that their descendants literally evolved when it comes to harnessing the power of the Spirit World and nature. The true potential from a Glaser witch doesn't come from their magical core; it comes from the fact their bodies can easily absorb far more energy from the Spirit Word than the average pureblood witch and fight their foes with their temporarily increased powers. Why do you think you are so good at handling plants? It's practically haywire into your genetic memory.

Melissa stared at Sanders in surprise. So that was why she used to be weak. She didn't know how to harness her inherited talents. It seemed like her potential was wasted all the time she spent bound to the Circle. Melissa made a mental note to finish reading her Glaser Book of Shadows.

"So, what do I have to do?" Melissa asked.

"Become a vessel for the power I will have to channel from the Spirit World into you," Sanders replied. "Like I said, even if I know what needs to be done to teleport Talbot here, I cannot do it by myself at my current level of power. Without my artifacts to help me, the effort would kill me. So, once I make the connection, you will receive the left over powers I can't take. The process should take a few minutes."

The others looked a little worried for Melissa's safety. After all, Sanders flatly stated that absorbing more power than what the body could handle would result in death. Still, Melissa approached Sanders and the plants on their pots above the table. She touched the leaves and stared at them in new-found appreciation.

"I'm ready," She said as she looked back at Sanders.

The half-witch nodded. With one hand he touched a bonsai and he grabbed Melissa's left hand with the other. He then closed his eyes and cleared his face of all emotions, as if he was meditating and started breathing slowly.

At first, nothing happened but after a couple of minutes, Melissa gasped as she felt a sudden rush of power wash over her. It felt exhilarating. Moreover, it felt right. Suddenly she had no trouble believing Sanders information about her Glaser heritage. She could feel her body accepting the foreign energy with ease, as if it was designed for that purpose. She couldn't help but grin in wonder as the connection Sanders established with the magic realm continue to flow into her like a mighty river.

Suddenly, the currents of power seemed to shift her perception. She could sense where the target was, even if she had never seen him before. Finally, she felt through her magical connection with Sanders that it was time, and in a rush, she convert the energy she absorbed into a luminous portal to fold the fabric.

And then, to the astonished eyes of the other witches, the glow of light that lasted for only a few seconds disappeared, with a middle age man taking its place on the chair.

"What the…!" He blurted.

"Restrain him!" Sanders barked.

Instantly, Lucas and Ryder used their powers to paralyze his limbs, while Cassie and Diana made a spell to tie him up to the chair with ropes. That was the thing with iron sulfate; witches have a hard time using their powers while inside a circle made with that material but they can usually affect whatever is happen inside such circle from the outside.

After they successfully restrained the adult witch, they took a moment to look at him more closely. He had short red hair and a beard of the same color. He was dressed in a black leather jacket and some blue jeans, with combat boots on his feet. His face had a scar in the form of a diagonal line, as if cut by a knife, on his right cheek. His dark blue eyes went from confusion to outrage when he noticed Sanders.

"Nicholas," He growled. "What is the meaning of this?" He demanded as he tried to shake himself of his binding to no avail.

Sanders smirked. "Well, my dear friend Rene, as you know the word meaning is a complex one, with many interpretations and connotations open to debate and…"

"By the darkness, do you ever stop twisting words?" Talbot wailed. "I honestly don't know what's worse, listening to your philosophical rants every time we cross paths or knowing that my most dangerous rival has the personality complex of sarcastic Buddhist monk with morality issues."

"Definitely the philosophical rants," Faye whispered to Diana, which made her chuckle.

Sanders face then turned serious. "This is an interrogation Rene and if you know what's good for you, tell the truth."

The two rivals glared at each other in defiance but when Talbot realized he couldn't do much about his situation, he averted his eyes. "What do you want to know?" He asked in annoyance.

"For starters, where is the Orb of the Sun?" Sanders asked.

"Hidden," The bounty hunting witch responded vaguely.

"Start talking!" Jake yelled. "The world is running out of time!"

Talbot frowned. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Sanders interrupted, "that Balcoin, the oldest Ancient one, is planning to make a planet wide spell tomorrow that will sever the connections every witch on Earth has to light magic so that they all become his dark magic slaves."

Talbot's eyes widen in shock. "My boss won't be happy. That interferes with the Grand Plan."

After a moment of silence, Sanders shook his head in disbelief. "So it's true, you actually serve an Ancient One. I have suspected it since he interfered with our duel on Teotihuacan but I really hoped I was wrong. Just what the hell are you thinking?" He asked in a yell.

Talbot raised his head in an effort to keep some of his dignity. "You know me Nicholas; I side with either the highest bidder, or the strongest. In this case, the same being just happens to be both."

"Just what are these Ancient Ones anyway?" Cassie asked. "And why are they so powerful?"

Just when Sanders looked like was going to explain, Talbot beat him to it.

"The Ancient Ones are the original, first-born demons," He claimed. "They ruled many parts of the planet approximately 100,000 years ago, back in the Paleolithic Era. No one really knows how they came to be, but there used to be 7 of them. Now, counting Balcoin, there are just 3."

"So there is a way to destroy them for good," Ryder pointed out.

"Yes," Talbot admitted. "Every living being must have at least one deadly weakness, but those ancient teachings have long been lost. The easiest thing to do is find a way to imprison them, and that's very hard on its own."

"Well, that's why we want the Orb of the Sun," Sanders responded. "So where is it?"

Talbot narrowed his eyes as he stared at his rival. "Why should I tell you?"

"Because, like you mentioned when you slipped, Balcoin's agenda interferes with the agenda of your leader," Diana said.

"Nice comeback, Diana," Cassie grinned.

Talbot looked startled all of the sudden. "Your name is Diana? Diana Sunwalker?"

Everyone frowned at his surprised expression, while Diana contemplated her new last name with bewilderment. That's the third one to date.

"Yes," She replied.

"Dammit, had to be," Talbot mumbled. "Fine, I will take you to the Orb."

"Why?" Everyone asked in unison.

"Because my Boss made it perfectly clear to me that if I ever crossed paths with you, you are not to be harmed," Talbot declared. "You are essential to his Grand Plan."

Diana grimaced. Considering what Balcoin was planning, it wasn't hard to understand why he wanted her on his side but they knew next to nothing about this new Ancient One. Why the hell would he need her? Soon enough, Sanders voiced out what needed to be said.

"We will handle that when the time comes," He stated. "Right now we have other priorities. Now, where is the Orb?" Sanders asked.

"In my house in a lock-box," He explained.

Sanders nodded. "Now we need to do the reverse summoning spell to hitch a ride with him to his house. I will need your help again, Melissa. And, I would like it if you come as well, Ryder."

Before the others in the Circle could protest, Sanders cut in. "We have to work together," He insisted. "The situation at hand is very serious and dangerous. If we wish to retain our free will, we need to start getting along."

After a moment of collective sighs, they all nodded. Ryder approached Melissa and the half-witch. Sanders made another connection with the Spirit World to make the teleportation possible, Melissa became the conduit of power and Ryder spread his magic so he could come along on the trip. After a few minutes, they all vanished into thin air.

**TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC **

"She stole it!" Adam insisted furiously, to the already-livid Balcoin. "She must have, because it was gone when I got back, and I haven't seen her all day!"

Unlike his own, Balcoin's rage was a quiet, seething kind, and it was much scarier than being yelled at. "Why would she do that?"

Adam shrugged. "How should I know?"

"I thought you two were… together." Balcoin said haughtily, as if relationships were far above him. "Shouldn't you know these things?"

"She was acting oddly." Adam admitted, guiltily remembering how he'd accidentally hurt her.

"Does she want the power for her own?" Balcoin asked. "If that's the case, we'll have to steal it back from her, and dispose of her."

"No, no, that's not it." Adam said quickly. Something inside him told him that killing Faye would be something he'd regret, even if he was constantly furious with her. "I think that maybe she's afraid of me… I lost my temper with her."

Balcoin sighed. "She needs to learn to fight back with her power. No matter. If she's afraid of you, that will only make it easier to get the book back. Unless…"

"… she took it to the Circle?" Adam realized. "She wouldn't."

Balcoin took a piece of paper from the table and started to hastily scribble the names of herbs on it. "You can never know. After all, there are a lot of them, so she might feel safer on their side. In that case, we're going to need to beat them."

"But that's at least five against two, not counting the Balcoin siblings." Adam pointed out rather drearily.

"Well…" Balcoin folded the slip of paper, handing it to Adam. "We'll prepare a spell to beat them. Go get these from Calvin's niece, I need them for a ritual."

Adam nodded and then ducked out of the room, making his way down the street. At least Balcoin hadn't been too upset about the loss of the book. Still, the ritual couldn't be good… and what exactly would it do?

**TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC **

Melissa stumbled when she landed on stairs. She lost her balance and fell but Ryder grabbed her hand before she could hit the floor.

"Thanks," Melissa muttered.

"No problem," He murmured and helped her stand up.

They looked around and noticed they were on some stairs leading to a basement. Suddenly the lights went on and they saw Sanders and Talbot heading down. They followed them and soon enough they found a big lock-box.

"This should take me a few minutes," Talbot said. "After I enter the password, I need to override the magical defenses."

Then without saying anymore, he started pressing bottoms. Melissa took that time to talk to Sanders.

"How did you know the Glaser witches are good at shamanism?" She asked curiously.

Sanders smiled. Not a mischievous smirk or a knowing grin, it was soft and warm smile. "Remember our first class when I was intentionally looking at you to measure your reactions to my topics?"

Melissa nodded, wondering where he was going.

"Well, even if I knew about your Circle by the time I moved to Chance Harbor I didn't know your faces," He said. "Still, when I entered the class that day, you were the one I recognized first," He stated with a chuckle. "Your almond-brown eyes are so much like Sophie's."

Melissa's eyes widen. "You knew my mother?"

Sanders nodded. "She was one of the most remarkable women I have ever met and I am proud to have been able to call her a friend. We met almost 22 years ago, before she married your father, in Duke University back when I was trying to get my degree on Folklore and Archeology. We were the only witches in the University at the time so we used to hang out a lot."

"She went to college with you?" Melissa asked in shock. "Then what happened?"

Sanders chuckled. "The only thing more powerful than magic: love. She went to Chance Harbor during a winter break and that was when she met your father so she married him and dropped out of College. We still kept in touch; in fact when you were born, she wanted me to be your godfather and I gladly accepted."

Melissa's jaw dropped. "You're my godfather? Then why has my father never mentioned you?"

Sanders sighed. "After Sophie died, your father and I came to a huge disagreement. Your father wanted you to live a normal life, especially after the Elders abolished witchcraft but I knew that Sophie would never approve that. She was a firm believer that magic was a necessary force of good to help people. So, I offered your dad to take you away from Chance Harbor and raise you myself after your 13th birthday so that I could teach you everything I know about magic, away from the Elders watch. He didn't agree and told me that magic just brings pain and destruction. I knew he was grieving and upset but I admittedly lost my cool on that occasion and accused Patrick of dishonoring Sophie's memory. He snapped and we came to blows and then threatened to press charges against me if I ever came near you again," He explained. "So, I left town."

Melissa was quiet as she absorbs the information. She couldn't help but wonder now what would have happened if she would have started training under Sanders since she was thirteen. Maybe, if she had 3 years of intense magical training before returning to Chance Harbor once Cassie moved, she could have made a big difference. Maybe Nick wouldn't have had to die.

"Then why did my father not confess after it became clear you were here?" She had to ask.

Sanders shrugged. "I don't really know but if I have to guess, I would say he is torn. On one hand, you figured out you were a witch so he couldn't hide the truth from you anymore. On the other hand, even if he knows that you need to become more powerful to survive, he doesn't want me to train you because he might think you would leave him for me."

"I would never abandon my dad!" Melissa exclaimed.

Sanders gave her an odd look.

"I know that Melissa, you are a very caring person but I didn't mean it that way," He said. "I think the real issue is that, Patrick wants the best for you but, deep down, he knows that he can't give you the best magical teachings there are. He knows that a witch like yourself deserves better, but he is sad he can't give it to you the same way I can. He fears that he is holding you back and doesn't want to admit that I am the fastest way for you to achieve your true potential."

Melissa didn't answer to that. She just thought of all the occasions she had felt useless and utterly weak. Recent discoveries had revealed to her that if only she had taken her training more seriously, she could have avoided them. Her true potential had long been wasted and she didn't like that.

Suddenly she snapped out of her thoughts when the lock-box opened. Talbot took out what must have been the Orb of the Sun, which looked like a crystal ball made of gold instead with many different symbols around it that made no sense to her whatsoever.

Sanders moved closer and extended his hand.

"You do know I am coming back for this, right?" Talbot said as he put it in his rival's hand. "And don't even think of looking for me here again. I will move to a more warded location so you can't snatch me through space."

Sanders nodded. "Looking forward to it," He said evenly.

The half-witch then approached Melissa and Ryder.

"We should be able to teleport back more easily with this object to fuel our magic," Sanders said and closed his eyes in a trance like face.

This time it only took them a few seconds to disappear. Once they were gone, Rene Talbot smirked for the first time. Everything was going as planned and he wasted no time in texting his Boss about it.

**TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC **

"What are you doing here?" Adam asked.

"I could ask you the same thing, player boy," Lucas sneered.

"I am just getting herbs for a spell," Adam said quickly.

"Really? What kind of spell?" The eldest Sunwalker pressed on.

"None of your business, weakling," Adam snapped.

Lucas clenched his fist and the twins were vaguely wondered if he could break Adam's skull with one punch.

"I may be weak magically but I don't need magic to send you to the hospital," He growled.

"I could make your entire body scream in pain before you take a swing," Adam counter with a glare.

"Well, I suppose you are an expert on that matter," Lucas hissed.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean that I know you realized your girlfriend was good for target practice!" Lucas yelled in contempt.

Adam's mind froze at the statement. That means…

"Yeah, she came clean this morning to all of us," Lucas confirmed. "We know how you took our dark magic away by releasing Balcoin and we know that the demon's plan gets started tomorrow."

Adam started to get worried. He had to inform his master.

"And just so you know," Lucas said in a cold voice. "We are going to band together to stop him once and for all. That means that you are either with us, or against us. I am sure my sisters think you are just hanging with the wrong crowd, that you have always been good and that otherwise you would have never done such things. Well, I got news for you: Personally, I don't give a damn. You may have been a nicer person back in the day but ever since we have met, you have given me no reason to believe that. What I do believe is that you are stupid enough to get controlled by some inanimate crystal; that you are an ungrateful dick for betraying your Circle, that you have a death wish if you think helping an ancient demon will end well for you, that you are a disgusting man-whore for having sex with both of my sisters, and that you are the worst boyfriend in the history of witchcraft!" He roared.

Adam stood there, his face red from anger, as Lucas continued.

"So, go ahead, run back to your lord and tell him to bring it on!" He yelled with a death glare. "We will tear him down like our ancestors have done twice. If he wants a war, he will get it. We won't give up our planet without a fight. And if you stand in our way, trust me, if no one else has the guts to kill you, I will personally beat you to death," He threaten. "If the others are not willing to do the necessary sacrifices to save the world, I will gladly get it done. Not like it would be great loss," He huffed. "I bet no one would remember your name after a year. Not even that drunk of father you got."

That did it for Adam. He lunged at him. Before he could hit his face, though, he froze on the spot as he felt cold metal pinching his chest. Lucas leered at Adam as his knife was right above his heart.

"Come on," Lucas taunted. "Hit me. Please, give me a legal reason to kill you. I am begging you to help me make your murder look like self-defense."

Adam glared at him with fire in his eyes but he took some slow steps backwards, away from the reach of the knife.

"This isn't over!" He swore as he ran toward the Boat House.

"No it's not," Lucas muttered. "And I wouldn't have it any other way."

The twins, who were quite during the whole encounter, stared at their big brother with wide eyes.

"What are you standing there for, midgets?" Lucas demanded. "We have herbs to buy," He said as he opened the door.

**TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC **

The group teleported back to the abandoned house. Sanders immediately started pacing, mumbling to himself about the preparations.

"We need to wait until noon." He said at last, addressing the Circle, who'd settled onto the couches. "That's when the sunlight will be the brightest, so it's best to do to it then."

"So… we just wait?" Faye asked. "I'm not exactly patient, you know."

Sander nodded. "I know. And yes, you wait. You all need to get home as soon as possible; tell your parents or guardians about what's happened, so that maybe they can help you or give you advice. Get some sleep, too, because you'll need it. I don't want all hell breaking loose just because someone's tired."

They all nodded solemnly, filing out and heading home.

**A/N: Again (in case you missed the announcement in the beginning) we'll be posting the finale around mid-March, due to real life getting in the way and keeping all the writers busy. We really appreciate your patience **


	22. Trapped

**A/N: Right, we've finally reached the season finale! There's no definite answer as to when the next season will start, since it'll still be discussed, but we'll update you when we know.**

**Also, if you check out my profile you can find a link for a TSC roleplay that we run, and an absolutely BRILLIANT trailer that Marril96 made for us!**

**Plotline writers – Forcystus5, flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B**

**Writers – Forcystus5, ilove2dance, witch-witha-B, **

**Editors – flower gettin' lady, witch-witha-B, **

**Graphic Designers – xleamalfoyx, Charlene F.**

**Twitter Account – ImaGleekBaby, flower gettin' lady**

**Tumblr Account – witch-witha-B**

**The twitter account is TSC_Project and the tumblr account is The Secret Circle Project. We also have a****facebook page****, you can find it by searching The Secret Circle Project..**

**Disclaimer: We don't own The Secret Circle**

Episode 22 – "Trapped"

Faye was standing outside the back room of the Boathouse, gathering all the courage she had. It was time that she finally faced Balcoin, no matter what the consequences. She knew that Adam might be there instead, but it was the only place she knew to find Balcoin.

She'd been right; he was seated on the couch, looking over a sheaf of paper which he hastily tucked away when she approached. "Miss Chamberlake." He hissed, and she felt the air around them get oppressively heavy.

"Yeah...?" She managed, in an embarrassingly high-pitched squeak. Clearing her throat, she added, "Yeah, I'm back."

He took a menacing step forward and her lungs tightened convulsively. "You must have a death wish."

"No, no!" Faye gasped, shaking her head. "No death wish... all right, some days, but you know how it is—"

He evidently didn't, because her airway closed further, like the very air she breathed was turning liquid.

"Right," She concluded, choking. "Not funny. Look, I came to make a deal with you."

He backed away only a slight bit. "Did you now? Seeing as you've already betrayed me, I think that's a little late." He chuckled, coming so close to her face that she could smell his coffee-tinted breath. "You know what? I think I'll kill you and be done with it."

Faye silently cursed, wishing she'd never agreed to the Circle's insane plan. She'd _told_ them that Balcoin would react this way, but no, they had to go and convince her that it's all be fine. Idiots.

"Please, I can get you the Balcoin Book of Shadows back!" Faye insisted.

The reaction was instantaneous. Balcoin stepped away, and a smirk crossed his face ever-so-slowly. "Really?" It was the perfect plan. He knew she was probably lying, but a silly Circle ambush would be easy enough to stop. That way he could dispose of them, kill Faye as an example to them all, and get the Book of Shadows too.

Faye nodded. "Really. I realized that being on your side would ultimately get me power, so why not?"

"Of course, very reasonable." He told her in a patronizing tone. "Well, come along, then. Where is it?"

"The abandoned house."

He followed her out of the Boathouse, grinning gleefully the entire way. This was going to be easy.

**TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC **

Everyone had the ingredients ready in the Abandon House. They were still waiting for the sunlight to be at its strongest at high noon in order to activate the spell. Meanwhile, Sanders was rereading the French notes from Francis wife to make sure he had everything straight.

As for the others, the tension in the air was practically visible. Faye just text them a while ago to inform them that Balcoin took the bait and they were heading to the Abandoned House. Everyone was naturally apprehensive about the idea of going against the most powerful demon ever to walk the Earth.

"Do you think our lives will ever be simple?" Diana asked Cassie.

Her sister shrugged. "As simple as it will ever be as long as we are witches," She replied. "I am sure we will have a sense of normality for at least a while between one crisis and another, though."

"You think there will be another world wide crisis that will need us to solve it?" Diana asked concerned.

"With our track record? I am afraid so," Cassie sighed.

"I wouldn't worry too much," Jake said as he joined the conversation.

"And why is that?" Cassie asked her, for the moment, ex-boyfriend.

"For one, because, as bad as it may be for the world if Balcoin gets what he wants, technically, the planet itself wouldn't end, even if it would endanger the mortals once Balcoin declares war with his demons and dark witches," Jake pointed out. "In case you hadn't realized it by now, when you two stopped Blackwell from using the Skull to kill all light witches, the two of you essentially saved our specie from going into near-extinction. Now, by trying to stop Balcoin, we are trying to do the same thing in reverse: we are trying to save mankind. So, the way I see it, we are getting better with practice," Jake explained.

The sisters looked at him and they couldn't help but smile. Leave it to Jake to narrow things down to a simple manner in an amazing fashion.

"And what's the second reason?" Diana asked.

"That Balcoin is not the only one that can make diabolical master plans," Jake said with a smirk.

Cassie frowned but before she could comment Sanders interrupted.

"Okay, I think everything is ready," The half-witch said.

Everyone approached him to hear how the spell is supposed to work.

"The necessary herbs for the ritual have been liquefied and I poured them on a glass like a juice," Sanders began as he showed them the cup. "I am going to need a small spurt of blood from one representative of each of the four original light magic families and mix it with the herb juice. Those are Melissa, Cassie, Diana and the Sunwalker representative can be any of you," Sanders said as he looked at the twins and the half siblings.

"I will do it," Lucas said before anyone else could talk.

He took out a knife from his back pocket. Cassie looked somewhat scandalized.

"Do you _always _carry a knife?" She demanded.

Lucas shrugged. "Ask player boy."

Her mind froze. Then…

"Did you stab Adam?!" She asked in a scream.

"No," Lucas said before anyone else could yell at him. "I did, however, see him when we were entering Calvin's niece shop and threaten him."

"There was no reason for you to do that!" Cassie yelled.

Lucas stared at her like she was an idiot, which only pissed her off more. "No reason for that? Just how naïve are you, little sister?

"Don't answer that," Diana said quickly through their link and Cassie bit back her retort and Lucas went on.

"Personally, I don't care if he was a really decent guy as you all make him out to be because he never behaved that way around me," Lucas stated. "Moreover, as long as he is controlled by Balcoin, he is a threat to all of us. Mark my words people, the only reason I am helping you guys is because, even though Balcoin could give me back my dark magic, I am nobody's second in command," He growled. "I may accept the views and suggestions of others but I am my own master, which means I don't take orders from you or anyone else on your Circle. If Adam threatens to bring down our ritual that will prevent the world from being engulfed in a living nightmare, I will do whatever it takes to stop him, even if it means killing him," Lucas declared. "If it's the price to pay for the greater good, then I will gladly pay it and if you look at this logically, you will know I am right. There is far too much at stake."

Cassie wanted to object but then she thought back on the bruises he gave Faye. Cassie shook her head and sighed, wondering yet again how things got so complicated without them realizing it. Ryder may be a cunning manipulator but at least he had some charm and the twins were nice enough for Cassie to accept but she had never really gotten along with Lucas. He was far too temperamental, violent and blatantly direct for her liking. But deep down, she knew her brother was right. The magnitude of the risk was far too high to let Adam get in the way.

She stared at Lucas hard in the eyes. "Fine, I won't stop you from keeping Adam at bay but you must promise me that you will only kill him if there is _absolutely _no other alternative."

There was silence as everyone waited for the most temperamental Sunwalker to respond. "Fine," Lucas agreed, "but that doesn't mean I won't hurt him badly to restrain him."

Cassie nodded. "Fair enough."

After that argument was settled, the representatives from the four original light magic bloodlines did as Sanders asked and pour some of their blood in the cup. The half-witch placed the cup in the centre of a pentagram in the table.

"Well, now we have everything we need except for two things," Sanders stated.

"And they are…?" Ryder asked.

"Two co-related tricky things," He said grimly. "The first is for Balcoin to be within 200 meter of this house from any direction. The other one is around ten minutes for me to chant the ritual."

Everyone paled slightly. Part of them hoped that they could just imprison Balcoin from afar and be done with it. They should have known better.

"That means…" Claire babbled and broke off in a nervous tone.

"Yeah," Sanders said with a sigh. "You have to hold him off while I get this done and if I get interrupted, trust me, we won't get a second chance because we will need to wait for tomorrow's high noon and even if Balcoin doesn't kill us, he can get his own dark magic tainting ritual done at mid-night."

"Why should we trust you with that?" Diana suddenly demanded.

Sanders looked shocked at the comment. "After everything I have done for you since I came clean to you, it's still not enough?" He asked with dismay.

"No," She said bluntly. "At least, I don't trust you with all our lives. You are the only one among us who can read French. How do we know you weren't lying the whole time when reading the Balcoin Book of Shadows to lure us into a trap here and let Balcoin kill us all? How do we know…?"

"SHUT UP!" Someone yelled from behind.

Diana was shocked that it was Melissa. She had never yelled at Diana and glared at her like that.

"Why? Sanders could be…"

"…about to save the world with us in it," Melissa cut it. "And you could be getting in the way by delaying him."

Diana was getting somewhat angry with Melissa but she calmed down fast enough. "Why do you trust him?" She asked.

Melissa stared at Diana for a moment before looking at their half-witch professor. "Because he saved my life and because he is my godfather."

There was an absolute silence for 2 full seconds. Then…

"WHAT?!" Everyone asked in a yell.

"He's your godfather?" Cassie asked in shock. "And you never tell us?"

Melissa flinched slightly at the somewhat betrayed looks of her friends but she nodded.

"He told me yesterday when we were looking for the Orb of the Sun," Melissa explained. "And when I asked my father he confirmed it. He used to be my mother's best friend back when they were in Duke University."

"But then…"

"We have no time to argue this further!" Melissa shouted. "Every minute that we waste is a minute we could have used to better prepare ourselves. So come outside with me and gear up while you still can. Or stay here and keep finding an excuse to not trust a man that has only tried to help us one way or another since he came to town but if you do that, know that if the world gets doomed that will be on you," Melissa said harshly and got out of the house.

There was silence after Melissa's outburst. They weren't used to them. Still, they finally saw her logic and after one last glance at Sanders, they followed her friend outside.

**TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC **

Faye had been leading Balcoin through the woods for around 10 minutes when she saw the opening for the clearing that housed the abandoned house. Stopping suddenly her breath hitched slightly as Balcoin stopped right behind her, usually she was a good bluffer but she didn't think her skills were at their best today. And apparently neither did Balcoin,

"What's the problem, Faye?" he asked a small smirk on his lips as he moved to stand in front on her, "Getting cold feet?"

"No," Faye said trying to keep her face a mask, "I'm just not so sure about doing this right now." She said with a small shrug.

She hoped that Balcoin would take her meaning literally, she really wasn't sure that today was the best time to do this. Faye had had a bad feeling all day that she couldn't shake no matter how much she reasoned with herself that it had to be today.

"Maybe you are smart after all," Balcoin told her and Faye frowned at him shocked, what was he talking about? "Maybe you realise now that you can't betray me without your little friends dying."

"What are you talking about?" Faye asked trying to act stupid, he couldn't know could he? Was she losing her touch?

"Ah, so much for calling you smart," Balcoin said with a sigh before he grabbed Faye's arm and pushed her to the ground, "You want to know something about me Faye?" He asked, "I know everything and even though letting it all play out the way I expect would have been amusing...I have a lot of fun killing traitors."

But before Balcoin could make any move to hurt Faye, Jake appeared out of nowhere, shocking Balcoin and Faye by punching the demon in the face. As Balcoin got up, smirking at Jake, Jake was removing the cork from a small vial in his hand.

Seeing what was happening Faye moved, attempting to get up and successfully took Balcoin's eyes off of Jake. Knowing now was the moment, Jake quickly threw the remaining powder over Balcoin who doubled over in pain and fell to the ground.

Turning quickly, Jake pulled Faye up and the two watched Balcoin for a second. Before they knew it Balcoin's eyes were locked on them and he looked murderous.

"Well that worked." Faye said sarcastically and got glared at by Jake.

"Not now Faye," He said as he saw Balcoin getting up, "Run."

The two looked at Balcoin a second more before they turned and headed for the house, they knew Balcoin wouldn't catch up with them because he really didn't want or need to. He knew exactly where they were going and he would get there when he wanted to.

When they reached the door, Jake made sure Faye was inside and heard her shout of "He's here!" before he quickly looked around the woods. There were definitely pros and cons to the house being surrounded by woodland and one of the cons was not seeing when you enemy was going to attack.

The rest of the Circle and the Balcoins quickly joined Jake on the patio that surrounded the house, all looking in different directions. They had no idea what Balcoins plan would be or how much he knew about their plan. It was all a waiting game now.

**TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC **

Melissa chanted rapidly, heart pounding as she listened to the sounds of fighting all around her. Just a few more seconds, just a few more and Sanders would be protected—

She heard Claire shrieking, and heard something hurtle past at a dangerous speed. Balcoin was flinging things at random, and Dylan and Claire were doing their very best to protect Melissa. Cassie, Jake, and Faye were further up, fighting off Balcoin and Adam who had appeared out of nowhere.

Suddenly she felt a tug at her very core, and she knew that the barrier had been set up. She reached out for Cassie's and Diana's magic as well, tying it in with hers to make the barrier stronger. The two girls both started nervously at the sensation, but Melissa knew they'd forget about it in a minute. After all, a power-crazed demon was flinging rocks and dirt at them—their attention was focused elsewhere.

Balcoin's eyes widened marginally as he felt the spell go up. How dare they?! As if they could actually hold him back for more than a few minutes. He used his power to wrench a shrub from the ground, flinging it at Melissa. One of the horrid twins stopped in, and he started up again with rocks and liquid air, his two best spells.

Diana, Cassie, Melissa, Claire, Dylan, Faye, Lucas, and Ryder all fought back doggedly; the girls deflected the debris Balcoin was throwing at them, and the boys kept the air thing and breathable. Occasionally one of them would throw Adam back with a burst of magic. He was so power-high that he couldn't even tell what he was doing, so it was like fighting someone who was drunk.

**TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC **

Balcoin screamed with fury, shaking the remaining powder off his arms. That was it! Whatever the stuff was, it had dramatically lowered his power to the point where he thought that he might actually lose. Before it had only been a question if getting them separated so he could finish them off one by one.

He stumbled back dizzily, trying to regain some of his strength. He'd really have to work for it, but he could win.

"Not a walk in the park anymore, is it?" Cassie said an annoying amount of hope in her voice. Balcoin cringed and ducked as she flung a shower of pebbled and dirt at him. The others were laughing, cheering over a defeat that they hadn't even solidified yet. Fools.

Now they were going to pay.

He found it much easier to lift a tree up with pure rage boiling in his veins, and he threw it at the prissy little blond.

Adam, who'd just been thrown to the ground again, felt the oddest sensation as he watched the tree hurtle towards Cassie. In a flash he was on his feet, and he used a surge of power to throw it in the opposite direction just as the closest branches were grazing Cassie's face.

She stood there, blinking and stunned, blood oozing from the cuts on her face. "Adam...?"

"I don't... I didn't mean..." He looked between the Circle and Balcoin, mind clearing for the first time in months. All the things he'd done flashed by in his mind. Pulling away from his friends, abusing Faye... he found that it was hard to look at any of his friends.

Instead he turned to Balcoin, and shoved as hard as he could with his own magic, not the cheap borrowed stuff. It was enough to get everyone fighting again, with Balcoin staggering back.

Maybe Sanders would finish the spell in time.

**TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC **

"Enough is enough!" Balcoin bellowed.

The Ancient One took back the power he gave Adam and smirk sadistically as the treacherous witch collapsed in sudden exhaustion.

"Adam!" Cassie screamed as she rushed to his side.

Balcoin tried to advance but suddenly, he was being telekinetically pushed backwards by Jake and the twins. The oldest demon gritted his teeth as he refused to be flung around and pushed onwards with his enhanced physical strength. He was focused on it and moving slower than before, though so he didn't noticed Ryder raising several small rocks to eye level and with great magical effort, shot them at him like bullets.

Balcoin screamed in pain as he realized that, powder, whatever it was, also messed with his healing abilities and physical durability, which allowed the pebbles to penetrate his chest. His rage increased to such levels, however, that, along with the power he recovered from Adam would allow him to make one or two of his full-scale spells.

And a full scale spell of his he did. He made a lightning blast that penetrated the ring of fire Melissa created and blasted Ryder off his feet; his back hitting the stairs of the Abandon House while he groaned.

He was about to do another one when his mind froze. That smell of herbs mixed with blood…

"NOOOOO!" Balcoin yelled and before the astonished eyes of everyone present ran as fast as lightning and stood behind Jake before grabbing his neck.

Everyone stopped in their tracks when they saw the danger.

"Tell that wretched half-witch to stop the sealing ritual, or I swear I will snap the neck of your precious friend!" He threatened.

Everyone glance at each other with grim expressions, wondering what to do. Then suddenly, to the surprise of both parties, a wall made of golden light, separated Jake and the demon.

"What the…!" Balcoin Blurted as he was knocked off his feet and led flat on his back.

Faye, who disappeared earlier in the fighting, suddenly stopped being invisible and she was carrying the Orb of the Sun in her hands. Balcoin actually looked afraid when he saw it, if only for a moment. He tried to stand up, but a photokinetic beam of light energy was shot from the orb and hit Balcoin in the chest. He shrieked in terrible pain as his polar opposite of magic in its condensed form attack him with great power.

"That was for manipulating me!" Faye yelled.

She then fired another beam that actually gave him burns on his legs.

"That was for making Adam hurt me!" She shouted.

After a slow paused, she fired another beam at his head. This one knocked the demon out cold but not before he heard the last statement he would ever hear from the witch he thought he could control.

"And that was for being a supremely evil dick, you demonic piece of trash!" Faye screamed at the top of her lungs as she threw up all the month of frustration she felt since the Balcoin ever made it into their lives.

There was a moment of stunned silence from the Circle and the siblings after Faye defeated Balcoin. Then the Orb of the Sun started to levitate.

"What now?" Cassie asked.

"I am not doing anything," Faye told them raising her hands to prove her statement.

But something _did_happened as a shower of light engulf the demon's humanoid form and in matter of seconds, the light dissipated to leave a Crystal Skull behind.

The most powerful demon was locked away.

It was over.

And they had won.

Soon enough everyone started cheering. Cassie and Diana hugged each other as well as Claire and Dylan. Lucas grinned like a big loony but he was truly delighted. Ryder smirked smugly and kept muttering he always knew they were going to win. Melissa kept a big smile plastered in her face one that she wore for hours to come. But the main attraction of the happy moment was Faye rushing to Jake so she could hug him and apologise for being a bitch to him and Jake readily accepting it.

Cassie smiled at that. Regardless of whatever happens in the future, she knew that Jake will always be close to her. She then looked over Diana's shoulder to see Adam who awoke in time to see Faye beating Balcoin to a light magic pulp.

She broke off from Diana and move toward him. The two stared at them for a long while before breaking their silence.

"I am so sorry for everything, Cassie," Adam said with a guilt-ridden face. "Balcoin messed with my head far too much."

Cassie nodded slightly.

"Why did you save me?" She asked.

Adam actually smiled. "I think the dark magic Balcoin let me absorb had at least one positive benefit," He stated. "It broke the power of the elixir that made me fall out of love with you."

Cassie smiled sadly, she already suspected that fact but hearing it straight only made it harder for what she was about to do next.

"Honestly, not long after Diana and I had our light magic potential reawakened, it slowly gave me back my feelings for you Adam," She revealed but left out the fact she tried to suppress them when it didn't work the first time.

"So," Adam said in a gambling tone. "Do you want to give it a shot again?"

Cassie sighed. "No."

Adam sighed for even longer but he didn't look surprise.

"Look, Adam, we may love each other again but after all this deal, I am just not sure if I can trust you," Cassie said in a miserable tone. "Until I feel like I can again, we can't be together. I am sorry but I won't accept otherwise."

Adam nodded ever so slowly.

"I will make it up to you. I'll make it up to everyone," Adam murmured even though Cassie heard.

The crystal skull was locked in the same place Lucas and Ryder found the Balcoin's Book of Shadows and then everyone was ready to party.

**TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC **

Everyone was sat around in Cassie's living room. Music was playing in the background and everyone was talking, dancing, messing around and just having fun! For once everyone was together and happy, especially Faye.

Faye had sneaked back into her house and taken 2 bottles of wine from her Mum's secret stash of alcohol (which really wasn't very secret.) So now everyone was around drinking it, along with a bottle which Cassie had found in the back of her cupboard. No one was drinking too much, wanting to enjoy themselves and remember tonight. The alcohol was just helping to lighten the mood and to make sure everyone had a good time.

A couple of hours later, their little party had got livelier. Diana and Cassie are dancing around the room singing, everyone is laughing and talking. They are all having a really good night.

Cassie twirls across the room to where Faye is sat and slumps down onto the chair next to her, her cheeks red from all the dancing.

"Hey" she says to Faye.

"Hey" Faye replies politely.

"This is so good; I mean everyone together and having a good time. It's been such a long time since we've been like this. I've missed it." Cassie went on and on, rambling in a tipsy way.

"Yeah Ok, how much have you had to drink?" Faye asked her

"Not much, I'm fine. Just having fun! You should join in, don't just sit here all night" Cassie told her as she jumped up and went to join Diana and Melissa in the centre of the room to dance again.

Faye stayed sat on the sofa, watching with a fond smile on her face as everyone had fun. After a while she heard someone knocking on the door. Everyone else was too busy to notice, so she got up and went to open it. She never would have guessed who was waiting on Cassie's doorstep.

"Grant Hi, come in." Faye said moving aside to let him in. "Diana's in the living room, this defiantly is a nice surprise," she told him.

"That was the idea," Grant replied heading to Cassie's living room.

"Surprise!" he shouted as he jumped through the door.

"Oh my god, Grant" screamed Diana as she ran over and jumped on him, hugging him close.

"I missed you," Grant whispered in her ear as he hugged her.

Diana pulled back and looked at him, a small smile on her face. She was completely shocked.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Well I was really missing you and had some time off. So I came to see you," Grant told her.

"Great," Diana replied, plastering a big smile on her face.

"Hey Grant, it's good to see you again." Cassie told him, walking over and giving him a quick hug. "Diana's missed you loads," she told him.

"No I haven't!" Protested Diana, shoving Cassie over into the corner, laughing her head off when she nearly fell over.

"Do you want a drink?" Diana asked Grant.

"Yeah sure," he replied.

"Alright then," Diana said walking off to the kitchen, Grant followed her.

"Umm what do you want?" Diana asked, looking in the pretty empty fridge.

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine. I just wanted to talk to you in private," Grant explained.

"Yeah I guess we do have a lot to talk about." Diana agreed shutting the kitchen door and jumping up to sit on the Kitchen counter, ready to talk.

**TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC **

Nicholas Sanders went to his front door after hearing the knock. He opened it to find his goddaughter.

"Hello Melissa, shouldn't you be celebrating with your friends?" He asked.

"I could ask you the same thing," Melissa said with a grin. "That ritual you did saved us all. You deserve some fun."

"Oh, I was having fun," Sanders objected.

"With what?" Melissa raised an eyebrow.

"With one of my favourite hobbies other than looking for magical artefacts," He stated. "Watching history documentaries and laughing on the parts that historians got wrong when there was a witch involved in that time-period to supernaturally mess things up. It relaxes me greatly."

Melissa stared at him. The two of them clearly have two different definitions of fun but considering what she knows of her teacher's personality, that hobby fits with his character quite well.

"Well then, why did you come?" Sanders asked.

"There is something I haven't told any of my friends of what happened in the fighting with Balcoin," Melissa said. "I know I should but I don't feel ready to inform them."

Sanders smiled softly. "But you feel that you can trust me enough to tell me," He said instead of asking.

Melissa nodded slowly. "You see, before you came, before the crisis with Blackwell, even before the witch hunters and Jake came to town, there was another witch in our Circle. His name was Nick; he was Jake's brother and the only guy I have truly loved."

Sanders grimaced at the past tense but let her continue.

"He…died when a demon called Abaddon possessed him and he was trying to get the demon out of his body," Melissa said in a shaken voice.

"I am sorry," Sanders whispered.

Melissa closed her eyes and nodded.

"Thanks. Anyway, back when I was making that ring of fire to prevent Balcoin from reaching the Abandoned House, Balcoin got inside my head, like the last time we fought to magically scream in my mind in order to break my concentration," Melissa explained. "Only this time, instead of screaming, he told me Abaddon was a lesser demon that he spawned and thus he had the power to resurrect him as well as his last host if he could overload magic with darkness. He…told me to stand down and that if I did, he promised to spare him and bring Nick back to me."

"He was lying," Sanders said immediately as he saw the concern on his goddaughters face.

Melissa slowly shook her head. "That's what I told myself to refuse him, but the more I think about it, the more I believe it could have been done. The guy was probably one of the most powerful beings on the planet and I am sure if Jake hadn't weakened him severely, not all of us would have survived."

She sighed. "My point is, before I refused him, I was very tempted to give in and it was in that moment that I realized what Cassie and Diana meant by dark magic being seductive. It really does get under your skin. But, like my dad keeps saying, a Nidaros witch like me cannot submit to the darkness within her; she has to accept it but dominate it as well so….I am guessing I am asking you if your offer to train me still stands."

Sanders stared at her in silence for a long moment, weighing all the implications before answering.

"If I train you, it will be for a long while, Melissa," Sanders claimed. "I know you have much potential but it will take me at least a few months of hard work to really make enough progress in your training before you know enough to learn more on your own. But if you agree to that, as well as being patient and keeping an open mind, I will train you."

Melissa nodded. "I can accept that."

Sanders smiled and offered his hand. Melissa took it and they stretched it.

"I have a feeling you will be my priced apprentice, Melissa," Sanders said with a smirk.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence san…Nicholas," Melissa comment with a smile.

Sanders smiled as he realized he and his goddaughter were finally on first name basis.

**TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC **

Faye was staring at the wine that was left untouched in her cup when she heard the small smash and the quiet voice of Melissa saying "oops" before she put her cup to the side. No one had noticed but Faye had not taken a single sip of her drink and anyone who knew Faye would know that that was something very uncharacteristic of the young witch.

Everyone was having so much fun, the looming threat was over and even though there was likely to be another one within the year, they had saved everyone again and it was a good feeling. Everyone had the right to celebrate and be happy, while they could. It was depressing but true, life was never simple or easy and Faye knew that first hand.

Looking over to the others she did a quick glance to make sure no one was paying too much attention to her or anything in her general direction before she uncurled herself and stood up from the sofa. Slipping out of the room unnoticed she headed towards the kitchen.

Faye paused at the closed door, now unsure of what she was going to do. She had promised herself that she would be strong and that she had to tell someone, there were some secrets you couldn't keep. Her initial thought had been to tell Diana, she was the first person Faye thought of going to now. After everything Faye had ever said and done, Diana had never really judged her. They had their fights and long periods where they didn't speak but it was Diana, she was caring and mature and she would always help. And she could help with this, right?

Letting a sigh escape her lips, Faye raised her hand to knock on the door but paused again as she thought what Diana might say. Diana didn't judge but Faye couldn't help but think this would be the one time that she would be wrong.

With a small shake of the head, Faye knocked quietly on the door. A part of her hoped if she had knocked quietly enough then no one would have heard her and she could go back to the others and just pretend none of this ever happened.

But her hopes of that happening were completely crushed when she heard Diana's voice on the other side of the door telling her to come in. After a second or two of hesitation, Faye reached for the handle and opened the door. Walking in she left the door ajar, before looking between Diana and Grant,

"Sorry to interrupt you guys..." Faye said but before she could say anymore Grant spoke,

"It's fine Faye," he told her with a small smile, "You weren't interrupting anything and I'm sure even if you were there is a good reason behind it. So I think I'll go join the party and leave you two to chat." Grant said walking over to give Diana a quick kiss on the forehead before leaving.

"So, what's up?" Diana asked, she had been a little worried about Faye as soon as the party started but the alcohol seemed to have made her push the fact aside. She didn't need to worry about Faye, she assumed if something was up then Faye would come tell her and here they were.

"Uh, nothing." Faye said with a small shrug and Diana simply rose an eyebrow.

"Come on Faye."

"What? It's nothing important. Let's go party."

"Faye..." Diana said as Faye headed for the door. Hearing her tone Faye turned around to look at the other witch.

"Why does everyone keep saying my name like that?" she asked and Diana gave a small smile.

"Because we all know you better than you think and I know you are hiding something. You wouldn't be in here if you didn't want to tell me so what's stopping you?"

"If I say it out loud it makes it all real." Faye said looking down, all of a sudden she had changed from faking happiness to looking like a scared little girl.

"Faye..." Diana said quietly walking up to her, "Whatever it is, we can deal with it. I promise, but you need to tell me what is going on first. I can't read your mind."

"What if it ruins everyone's lives?" Faye asked and Diana's brow furrowed,

"Faye if it's that bad, you really need to tell me." Diana said almost begging the other girl to tell her what was wrong.

"I'm pregnant," Faye told her quietly,

"What?" Diana whispered in shock.

"Please don't make me say it again." Faye almost begged and Diana shook her head before pulling Faye into a hug.

It was a lot for anyone to take in, at any point in their lives. But with everything that had been happening recently Diana was even more worried about Faye. If she was pregnant and there was another threat coming, they had to be careful. Pulling away slightly, Diana brushed away the tears on Faye's face before letting out a small sigh,

"Adam?" she asked quietly and frowned slightly when Faye shook her head.

"It could be Jake," Faye said her voice low, "Jake and I slept together the night before we broke up and then I slept with Adam that weekend, it could be either of them."

"Oh," Diana said her face showing that she was deep in thought, "So you got pregnant in September? That would make you around 2 months." Diana said slowly and Faye simply nodded. "Okay," Diana said with a smile, "We can handle this, whatever happens with Jake or Adam I will be right by your side, okay?"

Hearing what Diana said Faye gave a sad smile and gladly cuddled herself in her friends arms again, hoping that Diana was right and everything would be alright.

**TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC - TSC **

Grant backed away from the door, a mixture of dread and relief twisting in his stomach. Making sure he was far enough away, he pulled out his phone.

"Yeah, it's me." He whispered. "I think I've found what you've been looking for." He paused, shaking his head in impatience at the other person's chatter. "Not now! Yes, I'm sure, she just said she was pregnant." He nodded. "Mmm-hmnm. Yeah, okay. I have an excuse to stick around, so I'll make sure to keep you updated. Okay, goodbye."


	23. Sanders spin-off

**Forcystus5: Hello everyone! This is the first time I talk directly in an author note of our season 2 but some of you may have already heard of me from my The Secret Circle & The Vampire Diaries crossover called The Secret Diaries of Cassie Blake. Be sure to read that if you are a fan of TVD as well. It is posted under CharmedMilliE's profile.**

**Anyway, I am here to inform you the following: Do to real life concerns and important school exams; it will still be a while before our season 3 is posted. However, out of all of us, I am the one with more free time at the moment and I decided to use that extra free time to write something I hope you all enjoy. **

**The season three may still be far away for the foreseeable future but I will be writing a prequel story for the character Nicholas Sanders. I was the one who created him after all, as well as most of the details on his storylines. So, I decided to write a story about the adventures of my OC before he met the Circle. **

**Also, if all goes like planned, the outline is schedule to end in episode 12 so, if you want an analogy, think of it as a summer show while you wait for season 3 of The Secret Circle Project.**

**And now, I have a treat for you: A preview! You can read the first scene of the first episode. Be sure to review to inform me if you like it. Here it goes:**

Nicholas Sanders heard a knock on the door. He quickly rose from his chair and opened it. Standing before him was a young woman in her early twenties. She had skin the color of honey, somewhat similar to her eyes, although they were a shade or two more brown in color. She was dressed in a grey coat that said Duke University in the back and some jeans covered her legs. Her lips curled into a smirk as she saw him.

"Good to see you again, Nicholas," She said in a delighted tone. "It has been far too long."

Sanders smiled back. "Indeed. Thanks for coming, Janett. Come on in."

As soon as they were settled on the couch, Sander's offered her a cup of wine. She took a few sips and chuckled.

"I still have no idea how you use magic to improve the taste of wine but you mark my words, I will figure out your secret recipe even if it's the last thing I do," Janett vowed with a wide grin.

Sanders scoffed playfully. "If it's the last thing you do, you will never get to enjoy the recipe."

Both then burst into laughter for long moments.

"Oh God, I have missed chit-chatting with you," Janett sighed. "You can be mysteriously infuriating, philosophically insane, morally ambiguous, and downright annoying but you are never, _ever, _boring."

Sanders smirked widely. "I will take that as a compliment."

"It was meant to be one," She assured. "So, how have you been these last few months?"

"Well, aside from the fact you hadn't been around since your graduation, I don't have reason to complain," Sanders said. "The Head of the Archeology department took a yearlong vacation so he could tour across the world and the Board of Governors chose me as the substitute until he returns. The pay is better and I have more access to different archeological sites and records."

Sander's expression tone grew more serious suddenly. "Which is the reason I called you."

Janett frowned. "Is this the thing you said you didn't want to talk in the phone about?"

Sanders nodded.

"Okay then, shoot."

"Well, two days ago I was sent on an archeology expedition to the Central American country of Panama to examine a recent discovery," He began. "You see, the local archeologists don't really know a lot about the Native Americans of the isthmus for lack of written records and of sites of the same size and caliber as most on Mexico and Peru. However, there is this valley known as the Valley of Anton in the central highlands of Panama and last month, there were some excavations near a famous large geo glyph known as the Painted Rock. There, they discovered a _very _interesting spear."

Janett raised an eyebrow. "Define interesting."

"Magical artifact interesting," Sanders said smirking. "I am still unsure what ethnic group the shaman who created it belong to but I know the spear can be used as an elemental catalyst. If witches wield it, they can pour magic from their core and an amplified blast of lightning gets shot from the tip."

Janett whistled. "Nice," She murmured.

Sanders nodded but his face turned grim. "And I need your help to get it back."

Janett blinked. "Get it back?" She asked tentatively.

The half-witch sighed. "The artifact was stolen last night so I teleported back through the Spirit World as fast as I could and that's why I told you to come."

Janett nodded slowly. "Okay but what exactly do you need me to do?"

"For starters, be a translator for me," Sanders stated. "I don't speak Spanish and that's the official language of Panama. Besides, I would like to have you watching my back if we are forced to face a witch."

"Are you sure a witch stole it, though?"

Sanders shook his head. "However, I did manage to use another of my artifacts to get a read on the spear. From what I found out, it seems the spear's true power must be activated before it leaves the Valley of Anton, or else the elemental powers will be nullified."

"And how are its powers supposed to be activated?" Janett asked.

"By using shamanist magic to produce a lightning storm atop of a particular mountain in the valley during a full moon," Sanders explained.

Janett frowned. "It isn't easy to accomplish that," The young witch remarked. "You may be able to get it done but only with your magical artifacts to help you and vast experience. If whoever stole the artifact want to use its power, it most either be a witch of great power or have several magical allies."

Sanders nodded. "Why do you think I called for backup?"

There was a silence as she considered the offer. Sanders sighed.

"Look Janett, I am not going to lie to you, I may be asking you to risk your skin by a big margin if you want to come with me but I am worried of what that artifact may do in wrong hands. If you want to back out, though, I won't blame you."

Janett snorted. "And miss an adventure with you? Don't you have a little more faith in me?"

They both chuckled but then Janett stared at her mentor with every sign of humor gone from her eyes.

"I may not be a saint, Nicholas, but I am loyal and I pay my debts," She declared. "You took me in after my parents died and taught me to harness the power they choose to hide from me. I may have graduated already but as far as I am concerned, you are the closest thing I have to a family now and if you need something all you have to do is ask."

She then hugged him and Sanders smiled as he hugged her back and thanked her.

"So, how do we get to Panama?" Janett asked as they broke away.

Sanders smirked. "Why, by teleporting of course."

Janett looked intrigued. "I have only seen you do short distance teleportation before," She stated. "Yet you said you just return here," She added as she recalled the earlier details of their conversation. "How can you actually teleport thousands of miles to the south?"

"With great effort," Sanders replied. "Most witches would find it impossible," He allowed. "But then again, most witches don't have my training, a vast collection of magical artifacts to fuel their powers, and a strong connection to the Spirit World to aid in the teleportation process," He pointed out.

Janett chuckled. "Show off."

Sanders shrugged. "Just saying it like it is."

"Indeed," Janett agreed. "But you forgot to add something to your list."

"And would that be?" Sanders wondered.

"That you are the best witch teacher in the world," Janett said without any trace of humor and every hint of admiration.

Sanders smiled warmly at the closest thing he has to a daughter. "Thank you for having me in such a high regard," He said.

Janett snorted. "I would be stupid if I wouldn't after everything you have done for me."

**And this is it for now. What do you think? Is it something you might find worth your while? Regardless, I should be posting the pilot episode at some point next week, and it will be posted in the same profile this season 2 has been posted so remember to author alert if you are a member and hadn't already or to check out every now and then if you are interested but have no account. I really hope you like what I am planning. As for why I choose Panama as a starting setting well, I was born there and I know my homeland much better description-wise than any other country. Remember this story doesn't take place in Chance Harbor, so those settings don't count here. Plus, I have some cool ideas I have wanted to test out for a while. Well, please review to tell me your impressions. **


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